Urban Garden Design with Wall Fountains

By Elizabeth Jean

Garden and landscape design is a relatively recent art form in a modern sense that dates back to the 14th century Italian villas of the Renaissance for its cognomen and spiritual center. Designing a good garden requires knowledge of several disciplines, including topography, land usage, horticulture and architectural elements.

Designing for a small, urban space requires focusing a design on one or two aspects, and aiming for the overall goal of a harmonious composition of topographic, architectural and horticultural elements. Because an urban garden lacks the space to subdivide it into "natural rooms", and may have several competing elements from the surrounding city, wall fountains are a popular choice for any urban garden design.

Wall Fountains As A Design Element
Fountains are stand alone design elements (or abut the side of a building) that cycle water from a catch basin to the top, creating a sheet of water over a desirable surface - many designs include Indian slate for their backdrop, or granite, and even pebbled concrete fountains are used in some areas. The design goal of wall fountains in urban garden design is to provide the visual and auditory focus of the garden. They offer people visiting the garden an opportunity to listen to the sound of water rather than the bustle of traffic, honking of horns and the interminable chatter of cell phones carried by strangers.

Areas leading to [http://www.ckclandscapinginc.com/ ]wall fountains usually include a few key design elements - a walkway through the garden, and a leading tie in with trellis bushes and shrubs, which generally frame the garden. Planting beds, and regularly cycling through which bulbs get planted when, is a great way to keep your urban garden fresh in appearance and scent. And gardening and planting is a worthwhile hobby for many people.

Choosing good wall fountains means choosing one that can stand up to the elements of your current climate. It needs to be able to handle sunlight. If you're in a northern climate, it needs to be able to handle being shut off and drained in the winter. It's very important to drain your fountain before it gets too cold. A frozen pump or water line can shorten the life of fountains so you should therefore make sure all the water is drained and removed from the fountain prior to temperatures dipping into the 30s.

Water Fountains For You
Fortunately, buying and installing [http://www.gatewayconst.com/outdoor-design.html ]wall fountains in your garden is affordable and a reasonably simple process. Hooking up the water and getting the pump started does not take that much time and before you know it, your new water feature will be the eye catcher of your garden design project. Make sure you take into account details like the lay of the land, drainage patterns, the placement of planting beds, sunlight, wind path and shade trees (or surrounding walls) when setting up your garden as well as setting up your wall fountains.

Fountains offer the burbling of running water creating a nice peaceful atmosphere to your garden. Consider wall fountains as part of your next home and garden make over and so you'll be sure to be adding design elements that are appealing and enjoyed by all who take a stroll in your urban garden.

Elizabeth Jean writes water fountain and related articles for [http://www.garden-fountains.com]Garden-Fountains.com, the #1 destination on the internet for wall fountains, garden fountains, and distinctive water features.
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Wok this Way! (Part 3 of 5) Seasoning Your New Wok

By Helen Fan

Seasoning is the most important thing you can do to your wok. Only carbon steel and iron woks need to be seasoned. The purpose of seasoning is to remove the manufacturer's protective coating and coat it with a thin layer of oil. This creates a smooth cooking surface which enables food to shift and glide easily, thus preventing your food from sticking, discoloring, and picking up a metallic taste.

The initial step is to scrub it thoroughly. Take a steel wool scouring pad and scrub both the inside and outside of the wok with soap. This will remove the anti-rust coating that comes with most woks. If your new wok comes with some rust spots, don't worry. It is completely normal for unseasoned woks to develop some minor rust. Just make sure that you scrub out the rust before you move on. Rinse it thoroughly with hot water. Then, to make sure that you remove all the coating, set the wok on the stove, fill it with water, and boil it for 5 to 10 minutes to dissolve the remaining coating. Pour out the water and scrub the surface again with steel wool scouring pad and soap. New woks may cause a slight metallic taste to the first two or three dishes that are cooked in it, but after that, the metallic taste will disappear.

Reminder: the steel wool scouring pad is only to be used in this initial step prior to seasoning your new wok. Do NOT use a steel wool scouring pad on a seasoned wok, EVER! It will waste all the effort you put forth in seasoning your wok, and will require you to re-season it again.

Next, place the wok on the stove over high heat. You're ready for the next step when you sprinkle a few drops of water into the wok and they start to dance around the bottom. Then, roll up a few sheets of paper towel, or use a piece of cloth, and dip it in cooking oil. Peanut oil or corn oil are preferred because of their high smoking point, thus minimizing smoke fumes when you are seasoning the wok.. Naturally, turning on your stove top vent will help reduce the fumes, too. Using a pair of long wooden chopsticks, or tongs, wipe the soaked paper towel over the entire inner surface of the wok. Reduce the heat down to low, and let the wok sit for 15 minutes. This allows the wok to absorb the oil. If the surface begins to dry off, then wipe the wok again with the soaked paper towel. You want the wok to obtain a thin film of oil when it's seasoned. The bottom of the wok should be slightly brown. Repeat the above steps two more time, and the bottom should darken even more. Over time, the entire wok will turn black (that's good). Now the wok is ready to go.

But we're not nearly done. Ever wonder why Chinese restaurant dishes produce that mouth-watering aroma when they are served on your table? And ever wonder why you can't quite match that flagrant flavor when you try to cook Chinese food at home? They come from cooking food on an almost impervious shiny black coating in a well-seasoned wok. That black coating is called “patina”, which is essentially harmless carbon residue from cooking in a wok repeatedly on high heat. A well-seasoned wok cooking at a high heat will impart what Chinese chefs lovingly call “wok hay”. Its literal translation is “breath of wok”. Wok hay is so revered in Chinese culinary tradition that in China , especially in the Canton region (south), when a customer is served stir fry dish without wok hay, it is considered an insult or bad luck.

It takes time, care, and regular use before a wok develops a patina. There are no shortcuts. But having patina on your wok is still not enough produce wok hay on your dishes. It is imperative that you heat the wok on high heat to the point where you see some faint smoke coming from the bottom before you add cold cooking oil. The cold cooking oil cools down the wok slightly, and makes the food taste tenderer once it's done. If the wok is not hot enough, or cold (gasp!) when you pour in the cooking oil, the ingredients will stick to the wok (even with the patina) and inevitably burn, also leaving the ingredients raw inside. Not to mention you lose that coveted “wok hay”.

In Part 4, we will talk about cleaning and caring for you wok.

Helen Fan grew up in a family that has owned various Asian restaurants all over North America, from Vancouver (Canada), Houston (Texas), Decatur (Illinois), to Chicago (Illinois). She, and the rest of the Fan family are now sharing their decades of knowledge on the art of Chinese cuisine at http://www.chinesehomecooking.com/
You can read more of our articles at http://www.ChineseHomeCooking.Com/resources/resources.htm
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Chinese Chili Prawns And Rice

By Jon C

This dish involves a delicious combination of chilli prawns and rice. Either raw or pre-cooked prawns can be used. Though raw prawns are better for absorbing flavour from the marinade. The end result is very similar to fried rice, though a wok is not required.

Quantities shall not be listed in the recipe as I am an adhoc chef and just add roughly what I think is best. When you try this recipe, become an artist and add your own .

Ingredients

Prawn Marinade:
ginger
garlic
chili (powder, flakes or fresh)
sesame oil
light soya sauce

For the rest:
rice
water
onion
mushrooms
sweetcorn
peas
Bouillon vegetable stock
spring onion

Instructions

Prawn Marinade
Chop the ginger, garlic and chilli (if fresh) finely. Mix
this with the sesame oil, light soya sauce and ground black pepper.
Mix the
prawns in the marinade and set aside in a fridge for a few hours. If I'm
planning on serving lunch at 12pm, I'll normally prepare the beef at 9am.

Cooking

Rinse the rice in the rice cooker a few times, and fill with water until there's about a finger nail's breadth of water above the top of the rice. Add about half a teaspoon of vegetable stock to the rice, Chop the onion and mushrooms into small pieces. Add all the vegetables (apart from the spring onion) to the rice. Add the marinaded prawns to the rice. Mix everything up. Turn on the rice cooker start cooking. Chop up
the spring onion.

When the food is cooked (this normally takes about 30 minutes), turn off the rice cooker, add the chopped spring onion, and give it all another good stir.

I am Jon C, the head chef at http://www.dawjee.com/ I try to provide my staff with healthy meals using our limited cooking resources, which consists of a rice cooker, combination microwave oven and egg steamer.
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Xbox 360 Homebrew Games - Are You Missing Out?

By Herb Peterson

Xbox 360 homebrew games are something that most 360 owners have never even heard of. A homebrew game is a game created outside of the normal realms of development, and as such is available as a free download. If you like the sound of homebrew games, check out the rest of this article.

There are a few simple things you will need to know in order to get some xbox 360 homebrew games-

1-As far as xbox 360 homebrew games go, you have a choice on which route to take. The traditional route to run anything homebrew is to hack or mod the console in order to get past the security encryption. With the 360, doing it this way requires you to "flash" the onboard systems, to manipulate the firmware, but totally invalidates your warranty. Also you'll need to hook the 360 to an external DVD Rom of a particular type, and rig it to work with the case off. Not fun!

2-The other option is more sensible. It seems that Microsoft and other hardware manufacturers are starting to see the pointlessness of fighting the homebrew craze - so much so that they have changed their stance and will now help you run xbox 360 homebrew games. Kind of. There is a download for your 360 called XNA Game Studio Express, and this allows you to use your Computer, to develop your own xbox 360 homebrew games, and also run games developed by others. Much more fun!

3-Something else important is that you understand what exactly the term "homebrew" means. Many people think that homebrew means you are running copied games, hacked games etc, but this is not accurate. Xbox 360 homebrew games are exactly like they sound - home brewed games - games that people have made at home. The quality is surprisingly high of such games, and it means that everyone can now have a shot at developing games. If you've ever played a game and thought "If only I could just...." you'll see how much fun this could be.

It's now no longer necessary for those looking for xbox 360 homebrew games to download them from some illegal or dangerous P2P site or something similar. In their infinite wisdom, Microsoft are beginning to release the best of the homebrew titles for download over the XBLA, or Xbox Live Arcade, which is very welcome development for any would-be games programmers. At last games programmers have a way of getting their talent noticed!

I'm hoping you've found some value in this article. Finding xbox 360 homebrew games can be a real task. Check out the links below for some of the best sites. [http://www.yourdownloadreviews.com/]Click HERE to get free downloads for your WII, 360 or PS3-whether you want games or movies it's right here, and it's fast and easy.
If you are looking for the best WII, 360 or PS3 download resources on the net, [http://www.yourdownloadreviews.com/]CLICK HERE and we'll tell you where they are-this will save you a fortune
Herb Peterson is webmaster at [http://www.yourdownloadreviews.com/]yourdownloadreviews.com
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Sewing Essentials and Tips for Beginners

By Ivan A Cuxeva

As it sometimes happen, we see a piece of clothing which grabs our attention due to its material, texture or patters but for some reason it's the wrong size so we can't buy it, other times we might be a little short on the "money department" which makes it impossible to buy designer clothing. All of these problems could easily be solved if only you knew how to sew. By learning this useful skill anyone can customize his/her wardrobe as well as those special items around the house; and just like many people who know how to sew can tell us, sewing your own clothing and other items can be significantly less expensive compared to buying them in stores.

Taking all of these factors in consideration we arrive to the conclusion that learning how to sew is important, especially if "fashion" is your thing, the steps and tips shown below can help you get started:

- The very first step for beginners involves getting acquainted with all of the sewing tools which will be used to modify and create pieces of clothing, a good way of doing just that is by either buying a used sewing machine or by borrowing one from a friend, if you happen to have the manual handy it is highly recommended to read it entirely, make sure to specially read the parts about safety steps since the last thing you want to do is hurt yourself while using one of these machines. Starting with an used machine will help you develop your skills and knowledge making it a lot easier on yourself when you decide to buy a bigger-more expensive machine. After following these steps it is also recommended to sign up for a sewing class because this is a skill you will need to develop gradually and there is no one better than a sewing teacher to help you master this art, these classes are quite common and can be found in community schools which start at different levels.

- Practice makes perfect, finding easy to follow sewing patterns to practice with will help you accomplish your goals. Start by sewing on simple pieces of clothing such as a shirts or even pillow covers, avoid having to sew complex patterns or sewing on expensive pieces of clothing you have just purchased; if for some reason you fail on the fist project the piece would be ruined, so do yourself a favor and keep it as simple as possible while learning.

- Give yourself time and be patient, the practice of sewing and learning how to sew requires a calmed and relaxed person so make sure you do not take too many drinks with sugar and caffeine, this will only make things harder for you. If you need to cut part of the clothing to make it the right size make sure you measure at least twice and be as precise as possible. The first few pieces might not fit your tastes or might have something wrong (too short, too long, etc.) do not be discouraged and keep practicing, at the end you'll see it was all worth the wait.

Right after you finish your first project make sure to start on the next one. This will ensure all the things you have learned stay fresh in your memory and will help you to acquire new skills. Following these simple steps for beginners will ensure you learn how to sew the right way, giving you the great skill to later on customize/create your own clothing.

Online-sewing-supplies.com is the best target=_new [http://www.online-sewing-supplies.com/]online sewing supplies source which provides useful target=_new [http://www.online-sewing-supplies.com/Sewing/Sewing-Notions-and-Tools]sewing notions and target=_new [http://www.online-sewing-supplies.com/Sewing/Sewing-Machine-Accessories]sewing machine accessories, visit us today!

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Intellectual Property and eBay

By Bruce Moilan

Intellectual property rights and possible infringements are a major concern in many areas of the web today. eBay is by no means an exception. eBay has set forth a clear and straightforward policy on the rules it follows with regard to the protection of Intellectual Property Rights and its commitment to protecting the rights that belong to third parties. The introduction of this eBay policy clearly states that infringement is the unauthorized use of other people's intellectual property - like copyrighted material and trademarks.

Rules that affect what a seller is allowed to sell on eBay include the restriction or prohibition of certain items simply because they have the potential to infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. These restricted items include: replicas, counterfeit items, and unauthorized copies; Celebrity material including faces, names and signatures, and autographs.
Media restrictions include movie prints in both 35mm and 70 mm formats, bootleg recordings of music, movies, videos, etc., recordable media, promotional copies, and digitally delivered goods.
Software restrictions include academic software, beta Software, and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) software। Applications that have not been opened and are still in the original box are permitted to be sold.

It is recommended that when an eBay seller is selling media on eBay, such as DVD's, CD's, etc।, that it is noticeably notated in the description of the auction that the item is "new in box" or "unopened". If a used DVD, VHS tape, cassette or CD is being sold sellers should notate that the item is used and is the original.

There are even restrictions against certain types of equipment that might support unauthorized copies like mod chips, game enhancers, boot disks, and hardware or software that could allow members to duplicate copy-protected material।

When a seller lists an item, the seller is not allowed to encourage or enable others to infringe copyrights, trademarks or other rights। Members cannot improperly use eBay's name, logo or linking to the eBay web site, nor can a member include authenticity disclaimers or deny responsibility for the items offered in their listings.

Using another member's item description or picture without their permission is prohibited and falls under the rules set out in eBay's Item Description and Picture Theft Policy.
eBay has even gone so far that they created a program they call their VeRO program. VeRO stands for Verified Rights Owner. Per eBay, "any person or company who holds intellectual property rights (such as a copyright, trademark or patent) which may be infringed upon by eBay postings or items listed on eBay is encouraged to become a VeRO Program member. Program members presently include hundreds of individuals, local law enforcement, and intellectual property owners from a wide array of industries". The basic purpose of the VeRO program is to allow intellectual property owners to easily report listings that infringe their rights. eBay feels that it is in their best interest to ensure that infringing items are removed from the site, as they tend to erode good buyer and good seller trust. A tutorial on eBay's intellectual property policies can be found at
http://pages.ebay.in/help/tutorial/verotutorial/intro.html।

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