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

Ingredients
1/2 lb steak (we used ribeye)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar or 1/2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp wine (any kind... sake, red wine, white etc...)
1 tsp garlic ground (fresh or powder)
1 tsp sesame oil
pinch of pepper

1/2 onion diced
1 Bell pepper (or any vegetable you prefer - 1 cup)
1 Jalapeno
Salt and pepper

1. Slice the steak into bite sized pieces (roughly 2x2cm). Tenderize the meat first with the back of your knife, as in whack it a few times here and there.
2. Then, add in all the ingredients below steak (soy sauce, sugar, wine, garlic, pepper, sesame oil) into a bowl. That's the marinade. Put the chopped up meat into it and let it sit for at least 30mins up to an hour.
3. In the meantime, prep your veggies. We used bell pepper here, but really the steak and the marinade are the stars so adding any kind of vegetable you like works in this dish. Sometimes we make it with zucchini, broccoli or celery. Just dice them up to the size of the steak pieces too.
4. Heat a frying pan with a little bit of oil at high heat, add the beef to one side and then the diced onions to the other side of the pan. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry that for about 2 minutes or until the beef is cooked. Then add in the jalapenos and bell peppers (or other veggie). Fry that around for 1-2 minutes and you're done!

Tastes great with a glass of red wine...