Spicy Crab Stew - Ggotgae jjigae

I'm finally moving out of korea town. No more gun shots in the night, gang fights, or ktown sleaziness on youtube (haha). Sorry, just exaggerating a bit. I'm going to miss the cheap groceries and good food though. You'll always be in my heart ktown. Although, moving has been a huge pain in the butt and in my arms gahh!

Anyhoo, here are some random facts I've read in the past...

MYTH BUSTERS!
False: Toilet water on your toothbrush will get you sick
I don't ever keep my toothbrush where the toilet is because microorganisms are ejected when you flush the toilet. It can spray further than 5 feet (ahh!) and all the good stuff lands all over the bathroom even if you close the lid. But, fortunately you won't catch anything from what comes out of your toilet because when the toothbrush dies, so does most of the organisms. Although, that'll probably take some time so don't brush your teeth right after you go haha... Just keep your toothbrush in the cabinet!

False: Bathroom door handles in public restrooms are the germiest place
Door handles actually have the least bacteria of any surface in public restrooms says Dr. Chuck Gerba of University of Arizona in Tucson. That's because on average 68% wash their hands before leaving (WHAT! NOT 100%??). Your desk is way dirtier than a toilet bowl (400x more!) In his recent study, Gerba and co. found parainfluenza virus, which causes colds and flu on about one-third of office surfaces...and most of it on the phone. These viruses can survive for 2-3 days on desktops, phones and keyboards too.

Just keep washing your hands, become a germ-aphobe and stop making out ah ha ha...

Spicy Crab Stew - 꽃게 찌개

Chinese Pepper Steak (Stir-fried Beef with Peppers)

DEAL WITH THE SCIENCE: Girls do throw like girls

When my tennis coach told me I throw like a girl, I was livid. I generally don't like being told that I'm weak or feeble...maybe it's my height complex (?). But true to my coach's statement, my overarm throwing really needs working on. In fact, a professor at the University of North Texas conducted a throwing experiment, where results showed that nearly every boy by age 15 throws better than the best girl (NOooOO).

BUT WHY?
The article says that the rotating motion of a girls versus boys motion is particularly significant. The power in an overhand throw (like a golf swing, tennis serve or baseball swing) comes from the separate turning of hips and shoulders. Apparently, us women tend to rotate our hips and shoulders together...true in my case -gulp-. This one-whole rotating motion may have even evolved since we were cavemen, when women had to throw rocks or weapons while holding a baby (ah ha ha).

Anyhoo, after practicing snapping my shoulders around and whipping the ball, my right arm feels like it's about to fall out of the socket. Who knows, maybe I'll become the next Serena Williams...

Pepper Beef Stir Fry

Haemul Soondubu Jjigae - Seafood Soft Tofu Stew

My biggest regret this month is to miss the audition for the Spicy eating challenge at BCD Tofu House sponsored event at the Ktown Food Fest. OMgoodness, I would have totally owned it. But I didn't know there was an audition. I thought...I thought... ahhh. I missed my chance to win an iPad!! There were other contests like choco pie eating, but I can almost imagine choking down chocolate covered dry pieces of bread. bleh...

Anyhoo, I can make my own Soft tofu soup and eat it. Wuah wuah. Although, BCD's hot stone pot rice is soo fluffy and delicious. Something I can't make at home, unless I burn down my house.

Here's a short human body fact for today. I promise a more substantial, interesting and intellectual story next time...unless you guys really don't like reading too many words :p

FACT: 250,000 pores that exist on the soles of the feet secret almost 1/4 cup of sweat every day
Now I know why my feet smells like flowers.... :)

Haemul Soon dubu - Seafood Soft Tofu
Makes 2 servings

Green tea & Red Bean Mochi Cake

Ah! I've been so busy lately I haven't posted as regularly as I do. Definitely trying to juggle too many things and I need at least three clones of me. Boo. So I'll keep this one short with an interesting body fact.

FACT: A person can live without eating for weeks, but will only survive eleven days without sleep.

Well, I guess I should just go hungry and sleep. I'm so sleep deprived. I'm usually a morning person but seriously waking up every morning at the crack of dawn is driving me insane. Thankfully no cranky behavior (guess I can't be my own judge). But imagine people around those who haven't slept crazy moodswings...they'll probably only survive a day or two.

I made this super simple and tasty mochi cake. It isn't very sweet, which is perfect for me and a lot of my aunts and relatives who were eating them. They make lovely gifts when you wrap them up nicely. Koreans love this stuff. I mean, it's mocha and it's got red bean. What's not to love?

Matcha Green Tea & Red Bean Mochi Cake
Makes 2 loaves or 9x13" pan

Ingredients
3 cups glutinous rice flour (I used a mix of 1 cup brown and 1 cup white)
2 tbsp Matcha green tea powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 tbsp oil
2 eggs
Filling
1/2 cup red bean boiled (or measure from a can of prepared sweetened red bean and cut sugar to taste)
1/4 cup dried dates chopped (or use diced kabocha squash)
1/4 cup walnuts quartered

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Grease pan or 2 loaf tins with oil or butter
3. Whisk all your dry ingredients in one bowl (rice flour, matcha powder, sugar, baking powder, salt)
4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk and oil. Combine dry mix with the wet mix.
5. Gently fold in the filling ingredients. Feel free to use all red bean, or add raisins. Seriously, whatever you like.
6. Bake for 40-50 mins or until the sides pull away from the pan.

Glossy with honey and walnuts!

Seasoned Shishito Peppers - Ggwarigochu muchim

I always love those mini banchans (반찬) that they give in Korean restaurants. Most of the time you get free re-fills so don't be too shy to ask. I fill myself up on those ah ha ha. I've been learning so many recipes from my mother so here's a simple side dish to complement a steaming hot bowl of rice.

A little science for the day and a little justification of why I'm so short haha :)
Why Height Matters
Interestingly, in modern western society, studies have found that shorter women tend to bear more children. On the flip side, average-height men do best, better than short or tall men, in the number of children they father. Researcher Gert Stulp and co. of the University of Groningen in Netherlands pulled data that followed more than 10,000 Wisconsin high-school graduates for around 50 years.

Results show in shorter families, the sisters had more children than their brothers. In average-height families, however, brothers had more children than their sisters. The published article in the journal Biology letters says that sexes are locked in a push-and-pull battle over height. That means: shorter than average woman are more likely to have children and pass on her short genes. Good for her daughter who will bear more children than average, but bad for her son. Can you imagine this pattern continuing over the entire population???

As a whole, the population gets shorter because shorter women are producing more. Too bad for men, this increases the evolutionary pressure but still taller guys reproduce more and push the heigh of the next generation back to average.

They say that height is also correlated with income, attractiveness, education, health and longevity. An apology to short guys who think they'd like to find a short girl... :( I'm sure personality counts!

Seasoned Shishito Peppers - 꽈리고추 무침
phonetics: ggwarigochu muchim

Delicious ban-chan (side dish)

A Japanese variety of the bell pepper - small, finger-sized and thin-walled. Not spicy unless your seasoning is!

Shrimp and Veggie Scramble

How do you guys like my new and remodeled blog? The banner took me all night, because I'm not very good at photoshop (and my sister is never home). Even my brother had to help me with setting it up! So you guys are going to just have to like it, because I ain't going to be changing it for a while... Need. to. get. off. Internet.

Check Depression levels with How You Use the Internet
Computer science nerds at Missouri University of Science and Technology recently published an article  about a group of students and how their use of the Internet correlated with the depression levels. They explained in the New York Times that 216 undergrads first did a questionnaire to measure how depressed they were and then monitored their internet activity.

Apparently, those with indicated depression from the survey had high levels of sharing files (like movies and music). That sounds like me (NOooo). To add further insult, depressed students also tended to engage in very high e-mail usage, which could indicate high levels of anxiety. Lastly, they also have a habit of switching between applications frequently, like e-mail, chat rooms and games. It's called normal behavior @(%*(#_@($@ <-- denial

The research is being conducted to develop a software app that could be installed into computers and mobile devices and alert you if you show symptoms of depression. That could be your parent monitoring your mood swings during puberty. Sounds like a terrible idea!! What do you prefer? Data privacy or mental health?

Shrimp and Veggie Scramble
Serves 4

Kiddy Kimbap - 꼬마 김밥

I'm finally doing a kimbap post, but only because my mum is here helping me make them. My little brother's at camp and we decided to make it for his lunch and ours too! It's a perfect picnic recipe and my mum and I enjoyed these under the LA sun. The weather is to die for :)

Have short intestines? Addicted to Alcohol?
I guess you can't really tell if your intestines are short or not... But if you're older and have undergone gastric bypass surgery (stapling stomachs!), you're more likely to become addicted to alcohol! For people with short or damaged intestines, the alcohol goes straight into the intestine and is absorbed rapidly. That higher absorption rate makes alcohol oh-so-enticing, says research team from the University of Pittsburg Medical Center.

There are obese testimonials who developed alcoholism and were treated for their alcohol addiction. What would you rather have? A trimmer figure swapped for alcoholism? Well...both (as in gastric bypass and alcoholism) are avoidable if you get off your lazy butt, exercise and eat healthy!

Kid's Kimbap - 꼬마 김밥 (Ggoma kim bap)
Makes 3-5 servings 

Here's a jumpstart to a healthy lunch! KOREAN SUSHI.
Since we had to be out of the house early the next day, we prepped all the ingredients the night before and kept them in the fridge after letting them cool. Then we made fresh rice that day and rolled the kim bap straight away. If you're making it all in a day, make the rice as your rice cooker says first so that it can cool.

Daikon and Carrot Pickle {Bahn Mi Sandwich}

Woo. Going to a low country boil tomorrow. Filling my belly with some mud crawlers crawfish. I had a Vietnamese friend who loved crawfish and introduced it to me. But, I still think they taste a little like mud. She can pull off their heads so quickly, it's pretty amazing. Hmm... I just realized that there are so many crawfish places that seem to have Vietnamese owners...is that a thing?

Anyhoo, we're going to one in Virginia, and the Southern-ness (whole 4 years I've lived in Texas) is excited to be eating andouille sausages, corn and maybe some crawfish :D

Factoid: Sleeping Too Little Gives you a Heart Attack
At the SLEEP convention this month, researchers from the University of Alabama surveyed first stroke symptoms and how much they slept. They amassed a study of 5,666 people and followed their sleeping pattern for 3 years. Sleeping less than six hours increased the risk of stroke symptoms! And that's not just fat, old prone adults. Man, I really need to sleep more...

Not only for strokes, too little snooze time is a risk factor for many other disasters. So skip the exercise and sleep more. Haha kidding.

Daikon and Carrot Pickle - Do Chua (Vietnamese)
Makes about 1 huge jar

Pickles are the best sandwich accessory

Chicken-Pork Meatballs with Sriracha Mayo

Chipotle got smart and made an Asian version of itself in DC! It's called Shophouse and it is derricious. Bubs and I alway make time to go there. What I like is their super spicy sauce. Of course, not so spicy for me so I have to add in maybe a gallon of extra sriracha. But enough for bubs to sweat me a river (ew!). So Chipotle was my inspiration for these meatballs. They also work so well for making 'pseudo' Banhmi (dericious vietnamese sammich). I'll be posting later on about making a quick banhmi next! A quick factoid about cilantro, because I love them and because they are all over these meatballs!

Factoid: Cilantro Lovers Share a Genetic Trait (and so do Haters)
Cilantro is oh-so-heavenly. It's refreshing, crunchy and a lovely lime-y flavor that compliments all kinds of cuisines like guacamole, curry and meatballs (!). However, I know some hateful people that are repulsed by it. Why is it so polarizing to them? Only science can explain...

A new study conducted at the University of Toronto found that among 1,400 young adults, 21% of East Asian roots hated it and 17% of white people Caucasians hating it too. The results were published in Flavour Journal. It's possible that hater have a mutated or even an absent receptor gene for the protein that would interact with the very pleasant smelling compound found in cilantro.

It's all still speculative! There may be a genetic mutation of some sort that makes people just want to throw cilantro across the room and stomp on it, but there is yet to pin-point a single gene that's responsible. So... I guess science hasn't quite explained it yet (harhar)

Oh right, so you fussy people who hate cilantro. You can substitute it with Thai basil.

Chicken Pork Meatballs with Sriracha Mayo Dip
Makes 15-20

Daifuku - Red Bean Mochi

Woo! Done with exams! Now I can take a really long nap. Maybe one that will go until I wake up the next day haha. Those are soo good. You wake up and you still want to go back to sleep. My neighbor is the king of naps. His body is just scheduled to take a quick nap at 2pm every single day- without fail. I can't seem to take short naps. My naps turn into 3 hours and then I wake up and it's dark outside. Fail.

Cognitive Impairment due to Long Naps are worse than that due to Sleep Deprivation
So why am I ranting so much about sleeping? Well, I was reading this paper about the benefits of naps. Not just sleeping. Napping. We could really benefit from a afternoon snooze because it improves logical reasoning, reaction time in tests and increased vigor (duh). Research has really got down into trying to make our naps better, by looking at the duration, age, and the time of day. Essentially, taking longer naps (30mins plus) can produce sleep inertia. That's the groggy, confused feeling that's supposedly worse than the feeling from sleep deprivation. Sleep inertia is deadly. It impairs sensory motor and cognitive tasks, impairs accuracy and puts you in a stinky mood. It's worse when you're also sleep deprived.

You should aim for 10 to 20mins, and you'll feel super invigorated immediately after waking up. It improves with practice. For reals. Habitual nappers maintain a tonic level of alertness throughout the nap and can disperse sleep inertia more quickly. Postnap performance improvement right after waking up was true for seasoned nappers.

Holy. I need to jump on this napping band wagon and practice napping...like now! zzZZZZ

Red Bean Mochi
Adapted from veganyumyum
Makes 10-12

Ingredients
1 cup Glutinous Rice Flour (I used the Mochiko brand, see pic below)
3 tbsp sugar
2/3 cup water
Cornstarch, potato starch or tapioca starch for dusting
1 tsp matcha green tea powder (to make the green ones)

Filling
Red bean paste (I made some way back but you can buy them premade)
Strawberries if you like!

Home made recipe for red bean paste
1.5 cups adzuki beans
4 cups water
1 cup sugar (depends on how sweet/ or not sweet - I use a mix of brown and white)
1 tbs vegetable oil
1-2 pinches salt


Place beans and water in a pot, cover, bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 1.5 hours or until the beans are very soft.

Strain water from the beans, put back into the pot and on the fire at low heat. Add sugar and oil. Use a masher (I just used a fork) to smash all the beans. Of course you can use a blender and save you some elbow grease. This should turn into a nice thick paste. I like my paste chunky so I leave some whole ones in there.

Take off the heat and let it cool. You can adjust how sweet you want it too. This is a lot of red bean, enough for 3 batches of mochi. I save mine in the freezer and use it for later.



Making the Mochi

Add together the flour, sugar, water, matcha powder (if using) to a microwave safe bowl. Stir well until no lumps. Scrape down the side of the bowl so doesn't get all sticky on the sides too.


Cover lightly with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 mins on high. Remove and stir quickly. Put it back in the microwave for another 1 min. If you see the dough sinking as you open the door, it should be done! Don't overcook it or it'll be rock hard.


Have a dusted plate or countertop with cornstarch. Scoop up a little more than 1 tbsp of dough, dust your fingers and palm with starch too and flatten the dough while it's hot (you can use a rolling pin if you like). Put about 1-2 tsp of red bean paste and seal the opening with a pinch. I like a lot of filling and less mochi so adjust as you like!








To keep them fresh over the next few days, individually wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate. If you leave it out, they'll get dry and tough.

Make sesame seed covered ones by wetting the outside a little and rolling it on sesame seeds. Nom nom nom.

Some tips: You really want to dust your fingers thoroughly!

Green Bean Stir Fry with Sambal

This is going to have to be short post, since I'm in the middle of exams. I want to keep my promise of updating at least once a week. Besides, this is my study break...along with shopping online, reading food blogs and youtubing. I need to go to shopaholics anon or something. During exams, I keep randomly buying crap. I already spent 50 bucks on clothes. That purchase is justified since I really needed more shorts :/ But another 60 bucks on dinner plates. WHAT? Yes, dinner plates and bowls. Umm no idea?? Sometimes you just make the wrong choices on those shopping sites like Gilt or Ruelala, and they give you 10 mins to decide and then..and then... :'(

Oh and if you like http://www.gilt.com/invite/mabelcchan. That's my referral link so you can continue to feed by addiction :D

So I also bought these pretty rad skinnies from Diesel but now I'm not too sure if I should return them...

Factoid: Skinny Jeans Can Kill Damage your Health
On ABC recently, I was watching an interview with Dr. Karen Boyle from Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She's been seeing many women coming into her clinic suffering pain from wearing tight jeans. The disorder is apparently called "Meralgia Paresthetica" or when one of the nerves running in your outer thigh gets compressed. The pressure can cause tingling, numbness and intense pain. Some report a floating sensation (doesn't sound too bad) but they can't feel their lower legs :/


The news is even worse when you (men & women) wear high heels because it can cause the pelvis to tilt and increase the pressure on the nerves. We learned from our Sexual Reproduction Class this year about what it can do for men! Way-too-tight jeans for men reduce airflow around the crotchal area and make it really hot down there (in a bad way). Normally it's kept nice and cool, otherwise its infertility and a lower sperm count. 


Sorry for being the bearer of bad news. But guys really shouldn't be wearing pants tighter than women's skinnies right? 


Here's a quick vegetable dish to accompany rice. You can make it vegan/vegetarian by substituting out the dried shrimp with a little soy sauce.


Green Bean Stir-fry with Sambal

Ingredients
3 dried shrimps soaked in water until soft
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp ginger minced
2 tbsp sambal chili sauce (+ salt if needed)
3 cups green beans
2 tbsp water
2 tsp chili powder

Soak the dried shrimp in water for about 5 mins. Then mince it up real good so it is almost paste like.
This is optional for vegetarians but it gives a more umami flavor.

Mince your garlic and ginger. Trim your green beans and cut them in half.

Heat up a frying pan, add about 1-2 tbsp of oil to it. Once the oil is heated, add the garlic, ginger and paste. Fry that until the moisture from the shrimp has evaporated a bit. Around 3 mins.
I doubled the recipe so this looks like a lot.

Add the Sambal sauce and stir fry that for 30 secs.

Toss in your green beans and add the water. Give it a good stir and let it cook for about 2 mins.

Add some salt to your liking and add chili powder.
Keep stirring it so that the green beans get a good coat of sauce. Another 3 mins. It's done when the green beans are soft but still has a good amount of crunch.

Stir-fry: Beef and Garlic Chives

I think I can honestly say that garlic chive bulb is my favorite vegetable. I know... how can I be so resolute when there are 23097583 types of veggies? Well, you're going to have to try this recipe before you judge me! I made this dish with noodles. But it's brilliant without the noodles too. Just omit that and use only 1/2 of the sesame oil, oyster sauce and soy sauce. 


I'll keep my life update short since my factoid is freaking long. But a group of friends and I just finished warrior dash in MD. Pictures of that race to come! Lots of fun with great friends :)


Factoid: Love of Pork is Genetic
We've been learning about our sense of taste in our neurology class and did you know that it is the only sense out of the five that is linked to emotion? All the info from smelling stuff passes through the amygdala (area of the brain associated with emotion) before any other higher processing. There we can sort out whether we perceive that smell as good or bad. Now, research conducted at Duke University Medical Center, Monell Chemical Senses Center and three Norwegian institutions show that your love of pork, bacon strips and Wendy's baconator may just as well be in your blood.


Each person as a variation of genes of odorant receptors. That's the stuff that detects certains smells. So, while some people like the smell of swimming pool (I know it's weird, but I do), others prefer the smell of gasoline. We have a receptor for androstenone, which is a steroid related to testosterone, present in the saliva of boars. The research group conducted an experiment where groups of people with different levels of this particular odor receptor gene to take a whiff and chomp on certain pork products and rate them. 


Based on testers' reports, those with a gene insensitive to androstenone preferred the taste and smell of pork more than testers with a more sensitive type of the gene. They found pork products disgusting. So if you hate bacon, blame it on your parents!


I don't blame you if you didn't read this essay. It's a lot of words and it's only Monday :D


Beef and Garlic Chives with Rice Noodles

Garlicky spicy fragrance ~

Ingredients
Marinade
2 cloves garlic minced
1.5 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tsp soy sauce + 2 tsp honey (or just 3 tsp Youndoo)
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp sesame oil
0.5 lb Beef sliced thinly (Eye of round, flank, ribeye whatever you like)

Stir Fry
1 clove garlic minced
1 small knob of ginger minced
Bunch of Garlic chive bulbs 2 inch long
5 large white mushrooms
250g Rice noodles (I used pho noodles, but you can use Shanghai wheat noodles etc...)
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1-1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce

Slice your beef thinly into long strips like you'd see in stir-fry.
Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add beef, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.

While that's marinating, prepare your stir fry ingredients. Refer to the picture on the left on how much chive bulbs I used. I would say when all chopped up into 5cm sticks, it could be about 2-3 cups.

Mince your garlic and ginger. Slice your mushrooms thinly. Of course you can use other vegetables like red peppers. That would be tasty and add some color to the dish.

Prepare your noodles like it says on the packet but with less time because you'll be cooking it when you stir fry it. So if it tells you to boil it for 3 mins, maybe reduce that to 2 mins. I used pho noodles (banh pho) that you can get in any asian supermarket. Or white wheat noodles. After you drain the noodles. Add 2 tsp of sesame oil so they don't stick together.

Heat up your frying pan with some oil. Fry the ginger and garlic for a minute until fragrant. Stir fry the marinated beef for about 2 minutes (slightly pink but not all the way cooked). Add the chives and mushrooms. Stir that for another 1 min.







Add the noodles, stir and then add the 2 tbsp oyster sauce and 1.5 soy sauce. Of course you can adjust how much soy sauce you want to add. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes until your noodles are glossy brown and hot.

Serves 2!