Would You Listen?

THE SITUATION: In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold
January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach
pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000
people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a
musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds,
and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar. A
woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to
walk.

At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him,
then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him
along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again,
but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning
his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other
children, but every parent - without exception - forced their
children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people
stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but
continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total
of $32.

After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one
noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all. No
one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the
greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most
intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million
dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston
where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play
the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C.
Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a
social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.


The details of the Joshua Bell story by Gene Weingarten of the
Washington Post are here: http://tinyurl.com/3x9s2a

Recipe of the week: Marinated Carne Asada

I haven't been cooking a whole lot lately...lots of salads and easy to do stuff. I went to a wedding last month and the meat that was served was fantastic! Marinated carne asada and chicken, I asked what the marinade was and was shocked....orange juice, Pepsi and garlic. Weird I know, it's the sugar in the soda that breaks down the fat in the meat making it moist, juicy and tender. (I've used coffee as a marinade for beef for a long time, it also breaks down the fat in the meat making it super tender). I've tried it now a couple of times on both the meat and the chicken and it's fantastic. You can use as much or as little garlic as you want, I used about 6 cloves or 2 tsp of the chopped jarred kind. The secret is letting it marinated overnight, the longer it sits the more tender the meat will be. So, let me know what you think. A Votre Sante!


2 lbs of carne asada (flap steak or thin top sirloin)
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 can of Pepsi about 6 oz or 3/4 cup
garlic as much as you like
salt and pepper to taste

Marinate meat overnight. You can cook this in the broiler or on the grill, it only takes about 12 minutes to cook, 6 minutes on each side, if you like it rarer, less time, more well done more time. If you're doing chicken, then the cooking time would be a little longer, you want to make sure the juice runs clear.

Balance

I believe in balance, in all things. To say I've tried every diet out there is in understatement.
From the SAD to vegetarian, to raw, vegan, eat right for your blood type, Atkins, 80-10-10, Southbeach you name it, I've either read it or tried it. At the end of the day, I believe what I read in the blood type diet saying that only 30% of the population will respond to a give-in program.

I lean towards the Paleo philosophy with a lot of raw food. In my opinion wheat, corn, and dairy are so over processed that we've all developed an allergy to them on some level. But, I admit cheese is my arch-nemesis. My bottom line is how does what you eat make you feel? There are certain things (ie cucumber, bell peppers, iceberg lettuce) that when I eat them I don't feel well, so I don't choose to eat them. Some people call this intuitive eating...I call it common sense. And for me, life is too short to not enjoy the occasional sweet treat (especially since I LOVE to bake) drink or bread...

So, in the end it matters what you do 80% of the time, the other 20%, enjoy! A Votre Sante!

The Blind Sign

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his
feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help."
There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and
dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it
around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that
everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving
money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how
things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked,
"Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?

What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but
in a different way."

"I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first
sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people
that they were so blessed that they were not blind. Should we be
surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story:
Be thankful to GOD for what you have.
Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.
When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you
have 1,000 reasons to smile.

Author Unknown