Vegan Custard

I've missed custard so much. Imagine my delight at finding how to make custard here: https://amylecreations.com/vegan-custard-tarts/ and https://veganlovlie.com/custard-sauce-vegan-eggless/

I am going to try and see if I can make a custard berry pie today.

Vegan Quiche Recipe

I missed quiche every since I found out about our allergies. I've made a vegan version with modification from the recipe here: https://createmindfully.com/spinach-and-broccoli-vegan-quiche/

Tips: 

• Don’t skip cooking the veggies before baking the quiche. Even though you’re baking the quiche, the veggies need to be cooked ahead of time for overall taste.

 Cuisine vegan, gluten free

 Keyword tofu quiche, vegan quiche

 Prep Time 10 minutes

 Cook Time 45 minutes

 Total Time 55 minutes

Filling

• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 6 cups spinach (or 2 cups chopped broccoli & 4 cups spinach)
• 14 ounces firm tofu
• 2 tablespoons white gluten free miso paste
• 1 tablespoon low sodium gluten free tamari
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Filling: Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent.
2. Add garlic, broccoli, salt and pepper. Cook until broccoli is crisp tender.
3. Add spinach and cook until it is wilted.
4. In a food processor combine tofu, miso paste, tamari, and nutritional yeast. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Pour the spinach broccoli mixture in. Pulse to combine. 

About being minimalist in SG

Read later: http://www.jeraldinephneah.com/benefits-of-minimalism/

Vintage Reproductions

Check this out!

http://www.vintageproductions.com/index.php

Do I have clothes moth? What to do with potential moth holes?

Here are useful links:


http://goodreasonblog.com/2011/10/how-to-fix-moth-holes-in-wool/

https://tashamillergriffith.com/2014/02/28/finally-some-good-information-about-those-nasty-wool-eating-clothes-moths/

Panasonic Hairdryer

Read this later.

https://wonect.life/panasonic-negative-ion-hair-dryer/

Vintage or Reproduction Website Read

Just found this website. Will check out the information on this before I go further.

https://www.realorrepro.com/

Plant UML with Mac OSX

Followed these instructions from: http://macappstore.org/plantuml/

About the App

• App name: plantuml
• App description: Draw UML diagrams
• App website: http://plantuml.sourceforge.net/

Install the App

1. Press Command+Space and type Terminal and press enter/return key.
2. Run in Terminal app:
   ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" < /dev/null 2> /dev/null
   and press enter/return key. 
   If the screen prompts you to enter a password, please enter your Mac's user password to continue. When you type the password, it won't be displayed on screen, but the system would accept it. So just type your password and press ENTER/RETURN key. Then wait for the command to finish.
3. Run:
   brew install plantuml

Done! You can now use plantuml.

Vegan Spiced Banana Bread Recipe

Prepping Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Yield: Bakes 2 loaves of banana bread

Ingredients

Dry bowl

2 cups (500ml) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon (7.5ml) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5ml) baking soda

Egg Bowl

5-6 mashed ripe big bananas
1/2 cup (123ml) coconut milk (this is used to create a softer crust)
1 tablespoon (15 ml) lime juice*
1/2 cup (125ml) white sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) brown sugar / demerrera
2 eggs  (1 Tablespoon Ener-G egg replacer powder into fluid)
1 teaspoon (5ml) cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) salt

Butter Bowl

1/2 cup (125ml) vegan butter, softened / melted
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x3 inch loaf pans. Whisk "Dry Bowl" ingredients ; set aside.

Mash "Egg Bowl" ingredients together in a large bowl with a fork until well combined. Stir in the "Butter Bowl" ingredients mix, then fold in the flour mixture until a batter forms and no dry lumps remain. Pour into the prepared loaf pans.

Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

eBay Canada Newbie Help

I've just started to sell on eBay as I am really hooked on selling after using Kijiji and FB Marketplace.

These are the helpful FB groups for eBay:
eBay Sellers Helping Each Other 
eBay Sellers Anonymous 
Be On Look Out BOLO Buddies Resellers & Thrifters

eBay Thrifters Camp
EBAY Warriors Grow Your eBay Business

eBay-ing in Toronto, Canada

A few things happened. I've moved to Toronto, Canada. I've also started to go with eBay selling as I'd like to widen my client-base to the country and even USA (after getting into reselling at Kijiji.ca and Toronto FB Marketplace). I just don't seem to find enough information on eBay selling in Toronto or maybe I didn't search well enough. I will chronicle my findings here so I can refer to in future.

Websites on Enzyme

I need to explore this

https://growingorganic.com/probiotics/using-enzyme-solutions-garden/

https://www.thenutrientcompany.com/horticulture/calculators/fermented-plant-juice-calculator/

https://www.dudegrows.com/homebrew-fermented-plant-juices/

https://www.thenutrientcompany.com/horticulture-blog/culture-lactobacillus-lab-horticultural-use/

https://www.thenutrientcompany.com/horticulture-blog/how-to-make-your-own-liquid-plant-food-fermented-plant-juice-fpj/

http://www.enzymesos.com/what-is-eco-enzyme/how-to-make-eco-enzyme

Antiques and Vintage Resources

Beginner's antiques know how

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/leila83/antique-facts-and-design/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Potteryandstuff/

Image / Faster Search
Search Ebay faster: https://picclick.com

Biggest Source for Antiques & Collectables

Kovels (I am a free member)

https://www.kovels.com

20th Century Forum
https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/

20th Century European Ceramic
https://www.ceramic-signatures.com/

Biggest Source for Vintage Clothing Labels

Vintage Fashion Guild
https://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/

Vintage clothing cleaning guides
https://www.racked.com/2014/10/27/7571855/thrift-store-vintage-clothing-stain-removal

Why you should thrift

https://thriftbewithyou.com/2016/11/02/7-reasons-why-you-should-be-an-op-shopper/

How to care for fur

http://fancythatantiques.com/diy-tips/fur-care/

How to wash & fluff your down jacket

Wash: https://www.livestrong.com/article/1002641-can-down-jacket-washed-instead-dry-cleaned/
Wash: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/expert-advice/how-to-wash-a-down-jacket/
Fluff: https://www.livestrong.com/article/1000939-fluff-down-feather-jacket-after-dry/

FB Groups

To identify antiques

Antique Identification and Valuation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/75273609478095/

Crystal & Glass

My collection of knowledge base for crystal identifications.

Beginners start here:

How to spot high quality crystal & some history
http://lancasteronline.com/features/art-and-antiques-how-to-spot-high-quality-crystal/article_64958b6c-7f32-52a4-9231-c5a26bc6c980.html

https://aproperbostonian.blogspot.ca/2012/03/how-to-identify-crystal-pattern.html

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/determine-maker-crystal-goblets-102817.html

Acid stamp (Baccarat & Waterford)

http://www.tgldirect.com/blog/crystal/lead-crystal-5-techniques-for-identifying-lead-crystal/42/

Some information about glass

http://www.great-glass.co.uk/glass%20notes/glass.htm

Crystal Identification Database

Compare by Pattern: Replacements

https://www.replacements.com

http://www.tgldirect.com/category/replacements/crystal/

EAPG?

By Marks

http://www.great-glass.co.uk/index.htm

By Name & then by Pattern

Not a big database: http://matchyourcrystal.com/default.php

American Cut Glass

http://www.cutglass.org/

Pressed Glass

How to identify pressed glass

https://www.thespruce.com/faq-about-old-pressed-glass-149098

Miscellaneous

Cute history of Bohemia & Waterford

http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-Bohemian-and-Waterford-Crystal&id=6423168

How to identify Waterford

https://www.ebay.com/gds/How-to-Identify-Waterford-Crystal-/10000000178674594/g.html

Glass Bottle History

https://sha.org/bottle/websitemap.htm

Pottery Marks & Identifications

Japanese Pottery Marks

One of the most accurate and complete site 

http://modernjapanesepotterymarks.blogspot.ca

Most modern Japanese Pottery Marks are Otagiri. Check here first:
http://modernjapanesepotterymarks.blogspot.ca/2017/01/otagiri-mercantile-company-omc.html

To find out more about Imari marks:
http://modernjapanesepotterymarks.blogspot.ca/2011/05/aritayakiimari.html


Another reference:
http://litaxulingkelley.blogspot.com/p/japanese-porcelain-marks.html

Japanese Collectables Research by Ebay seller
http://www.japanesepotterymarks.info/

Gotheborg Modern Japanese Marks
http://www.gotheborg.com/marks/20thcenturyjapan.shtml

Most Complete For Chinese & Japanese Marks

http://www.gotheborg.com/

Canada Pottery Mark Identifier

http://www.canadianpotteryidentifier.com/

Modern American Studio Ceramics (1946 onwards)

Searchable! Check here first:
https://www.themarksproject.org/search-marks


Pinterest, American Studio Pottery
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kitschnware/american-studio-pottery-identification-marks/

Mostly American Pottery & Glass
http://www.cajunc.com/articles/pottery/

West Germany Pottery (from 1950s to 1970s)

http://www.potsandpots.com/

British Studio Pottery Marks

Mostly British Pottery Marks with some foreign
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Potteryandstuff/studio-pottery-marks-1/
https://www.pinterest.com/Potteryandstuff/studio-pottery-marks-2/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Potteryandstuff/studio-pottery-marks-3/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Potteryandstuff/studio-pottery-marks-4/

Worldwide Pottery Marks Identification
http://www.ceramic-link.de/icd/pages/marks/marksindex.htm


Australian's Pottery Marks
https://australianpottersmarks.wordpress.com/

To ID pottery marks

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/


Van Briggle Markings

http://www.clemhull.com/BottomMarkings.html

Beautiful Pottery Websites

What beautiful pottery these are!

Cute handmade pottery

Craftd Ceramics
Shiragaki Ware

How to be a tech Ninja!

Ninja Debugger & Ninja Troubleshooter

http://www.troubleshooters.com/debug_like_ninja.htm

New tools to explore!

http://www.archdaily.com/598489/22-websites-you-didn-t-know-were-useful-to-architects/

Vector models: http://pimpmydrawing.com/about.html

People & other (cutout) models: http://www.archdaily.com/777432/6-websites-for-ethnically-diverse-render-people

Beautiful Presentation

Also check these out:
http://growthtext.com/free-stock-photos/

I'm a sucker for beautiful presentations. Blame it on being in that company for 4 years.

One of the thing that we use most is stock images and here's a blogpost from someone who'd exhaustively gathered the best and free:

http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/50-sites-to-find-free-stock-images

http://www.powstock.com/

From the lists above, good sites:

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ & http://absfreepic.com/

http://www.sxc.hu

http://www.morguefile.com

http://freerangestock.com

Free icons:
http://www.hereisfree.com/

http://www.everystockphoto.com (searches from a few sites, some may not be free)

http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/ - Collection of brands & logos from the world 

EDIT: 2015 May

I've found new love for making quotes tailored for social media and that requires a different type of stock photos.

Here's the new list for quote creation stock photos:

https://www.lum3n.com/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238646

https://designschool.canva.com/blog/free-stock-photos/


I need to check this out too:

http://benrequena.com/find-free-stock-images/


LOVE

Not searchable

https://unsplash.com/ - Creative Commons Zero. Oh my! Quantity and quality! Score!

http://picography.co/ - Creative Commons Zero

http://getrefe.com/ - Creative Commons Zero, might be searchable soon.

http://jaymantri.com/ - Creative Commons Zero

http://publicdomainarchive.com/ - Creative Commons Zero, Gorgeous!!! Professional!

http://www.gratisography.com/ - Woah!!! Absolutely gorgeous artistic creations. One of a kind. Very specific! Creative Commons Zero

http://travelcoffeebook.com/archive - Gorgeous one of a kind. Creative Commons Zero.

http://skitterphoto.com/ - Toooooo gorgeous! One of a kind. Creative Commons Zero.

http://littlevisuals.co/ - Beautiful small library. One of a kind. Creative Commons Zero.

http://www.lifeofpix.com/- Quite beautiful

http://epicantus.tumblr.com/ - Not bad :)

http://www.designerspics.com/ - Mostly specific stock photos with thematic use.

Attribution

http://superfamous.com/ - Creative Commons 3.0 (credit)

http://raumrot.com/ - OMG OMG! Too gorgeous. Attribution required. But so gorgeous! Small library :)

http://foodiesfeed.com/ - Only on food. GORGEOUS!



With categories

http://www.upicm.com/ - Not bad :)

http://stokpic.com/ - Not bad. Require attribution.


SEARCHABLE

https://picjumbo.com/ - Searchable! Yes! Gorgeous!

http://pixabay.com/ - Also searchable. Also gorgeous!

http://isorepublic.com/ - Woah so gorgeous. One of a kind.



http://www.rgbstock.com/ - Check for attribution. Gorgeous :)

http://www.pexels.com/ - Very gorgeous!!! Require attribution.

http://magdeleine.co/browse/- Tooooo beautiful. Attribution required.

http://kaboompics.com/ - Gorgeous! Attribution.


http://finda.photo/ - META SEARCH for the unsearchable sites above. Search by colours.





PATTERNS

http://thepatternlibrary.com/ - with attribution.


TEXTURES

http://www.cgtextures.com/


VECTOR GRAPHICS

http://www.freepik.com/




INSPIRATIONAL

https://niice.co/



COLOUR PALETTE

http://www.pictaculous.com/

http://www.colourlovers.com/

An article by canva: https://designschool.canva.com/blog/color-tips/

The Single Most Important Trait of Personal Success by Lou Adler

Reproduced from here (https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130204210649-15454-the-single-most-important-trait-of-personal-success?_mSplash=1&sessionid=bfrpwHmVtRvGV8cVDWJ4)

Here are some ideas on how more accurately assess the most important trait of success:

1. Replace traditional job descriptions with performance profiles. The process used to promote people internally is a pretty accurate predictor of success since it’s based on the person’s past performance. A similar result can be achieved when hiring people from the outside by clarify job expectations upfront using a performance-based job description, or performance profile. Rather than box check skills, dig deep into the candidate’s accomplishments and compare these to what needs to get done. Patterns of performance and motivation will soon emerge.
2. Emphasize cultural and situational fit. While drive for results is a critical factor for on-the-job success, motivation to do the actual work is far different than motivation to get the job. Motivation to do the work is dependent on the content of the actual work itself, the leadership style of the hiring manager, and fit with the company culture. Hiring someone fully competent but a misfit on these factors is a surefire way to decrease motivation, reduce job satisfaction and increase turnover.
3. Wait 30 Minutes! More hiring mistakes are made in the first 30 minutes of the interview than any other time. If an interviewer instantly likes the candidate, he or she asks self-fulfilling questions to confirm this initial judgment. Candidates who fail the first impression bias are asked tougher questions for the same reason. By scripting the initial part of every interview, it’s possible to get past the first treacherous 30 minutes unscathed. Too many interviewers use the level of assertiveness to assess motivation. Waiting 30 minutes will clarify what’s actually being assessed.
4. Ask the Most Significant Accomplishment (MSA) question for every performance objective listed in the performance-based job description. In an earlier post I suggested that the Most Important Interview Question of All Time was to dig deeply into the candidate’s most significant job-related accomplishments. Since each of these MSA questions takes about 15-20 minutes to fully understand, it’s best to divide them among the interviewers. This ensures each interviewer is measuring the candidate against the same criteria and using a similar objective assessment approach.
5. Never (ever) violate the “No 2s!” rule. The NO 2s! rule refers to the 1-5 ranking system used as part of the debriefing process described in The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired. A Level 2 person is someone who’s not motivated to do the actual work required even though the person’s perfectly competent. These type of mistakes can be prevented by digging deep into what motivates a person to go the extra mile or take the initiative during the MSA questioning process.

You don’t need to be a Vince Lombardi to know that drive for results, motivation to succeed or will to get it done, is the most important trait of success. While it’s more difficult to accurately assess in people you don’t know, misjudging motivation to do the work you need done, is a sure way to hire the wrong person.

“If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?” – Vince Lombardi

_____________________________________________________

Lou Adler is the Amazon best-selling author of Hire With Your Head (Wiley, 2007) and the award-winning Nightingale-Conant audio program, Talent Rules! His latest book, The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired, was published on February 1, 2013.