It's Friday I'm in Love..... Fried Shanghai Nian Gao ( Stirfryed Sticky Rice Cake)

Scoff if you will butt I'll be dreaming about these satfyingly chewy mouthfulls of heaven. . My Friend K stirfryed some for me (with ginger,garlic, scallions, faux chicken, greens, peppers, and shitake mushrooms tonight) and it blew my mind. I will definately be buying some of these babies on my next shopping trip.

What it looks like in Clark Kent form

Here's  a promising recipe from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uknurAAN8YM


See ya in the soup,

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Feel my heartbeat travelling to the beat. Love the symphony

I made a break through in Korean just now and had to share. I still feel like a clumsy ogre when I speak out loud. but I realized I was drawing the syllables out to long and the breathe holding trick  only worked to a point, and well it also made me look foolish lol. I especially started having problems when I had the bright idea to learn the lyrics to my favorite songs as a way to improve vocab, pronunciation, and speed. It was a major fail. Forget getting to the translating part of the ride, every sentence felt like the cruelest tongue twister ever. I've drilled the syllables over and over again, so why couldn't I string them together when need to, *sigh* so frustrating. I  started snapping my fingers out of annoyance to hurry myself along I guess and surprise surprise I got through the sentence. The light bulb dinged on above my head and Shazam lol!  I raced to my computer to find  a Internet metronome to try. It took a bit of experimenting but so far  I've had the best results with 70 bpm, adagio, 4 beats per cycle, beat 1 accented. I breezed through to the first chorus using this method.

All Hail the Metronome. Metronome be praised

 Also my brain is fighting remembering the lyrics much less. I tried this on my collection of  phrases and it did wonders. Seemed a discovery worth sharing. Let me know if it works for you.= )

벨라 화이팅!
Bella Fighting!

 

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Boiled Flower Punch

I adore Sorrel. So much so, I'm tempted to start snatching up and boiling every flower I see. I'll refrain since I dont want to end up as a cautionary news report. "Entusiastic young foodie posions herseIf to death, due to obsessively making random flower teas" lol.

I have really fond memories of buying it from vendors at street fairs as a child. Now as an adult I can appreciate the mature flavors and health benefits more. So without any more ado, here's my recipe. This is how I do 2 qt batches, about a pitcher full. If you want the 2 gallon recipe just let me know.

Bella's Sorrel

6 oz Dried sorrel

Juice of one lime

1 Inch of peeled fresh ginger

1/8 Teaspoon of Allspice

1/8 Teaspoon of Cloves

1/8 Teaspoon of Cinnamon8 Cups water
1 Cup of sugar

Ice

Completely optional and awesome:

Frilly little umbrellas for your drinking glasses

Rum

1. Rinse Sorrel in a colander. Then place into a pot of boiling water along with your ginger.

2. Allow to boil for 20 - 30 mins. Then remove from heat and allow to steep for an hour or more, then strain. ( The longer you steep the darker and richer the beverage flavor. Alternately if you want a much subtle drink; boil for 10 mins, remove from heat, and strain immediately.)

3. Pour remaing liquid into your pitcher or cooler. Add however much additional cold water you need to fill the pitcher 3/4 to the top.

4. Stir in your Cinnamon, Allspice, Cloves, Sugar, & Lime juice. Then taste, if not sweet enough for your preferences add another 1/2 cup of sugar.

5. Add ice until till the pitcher is just about full, then refrigerate to chill further before serving.

Enjoy

Sorrel is a popular Caribbean drink during the Christmas holiday, made from the flowers of the Roselle plant, a species of red hibiscus native to the tropics. It's bold and fragrant, somewhat like an intense herbal and cranberry/raspberry flavor. The tea is a natural diuretic, and is chock full of vitamin C and minerals. And is purported to be good for all sorts of ailments:

Sorrel is also known to be a sedative, a diuretic, a tonic, a folk remedy for cancer, high blood pressure, mild bladder infections, and nausea. It is also effective against fever, stomach cramps, inflammation, common cold, and bronchial complaints.The added ginger is also a stimulant, Remedy for diarrhea, cold,

chronic bronchitis cough, gas, and nausea.

For Caribbeans in US it's a year round beverage. And bless their hearts for that, it's way too yummy to be a once a year thing. A good test of if you might like this beverage, is if you like Celestial Seasons' Red Zinger Tea since it's a main ingredient.

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She wore a raspberry beret The kind you find in a second hand store

I love thrift stores. The  hunt, the savings, and  never knowing what I might find; is heaven to me. I snagged an especially good haul today. Thought I'd share with the class.

-brand new Fox Run  English muffin/Crumpet Rings 2 sets of 4  $1.49 each

- a super fancy water proof/insulated rolling pinic carrier. (It only came with the plates, untensils, cheese board, cheese knife, & wine opener shown in this picture) $6.74 ( retails for almost $200)

- a great quality vintage cookie jar $3.01

- Cookie cookbook $1.12

- Huge 21 quart Granite Enamel Ware Stock pot ( I was having problems finding anything big enough to salt cabbage & mix all my Kimchi at once) 5.20

$19.05 + tax well spent, eh?

I hear acceptence is the first step. Hello my name's Nik(o) and I'm a thrift bitch. lol

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What a melon!

I have a weakness for Trader Joe's samples. Even if it's something I know I loathe, like beets *shiver*, I just can't help but try it. This lack of willpower led to a wonderful discovery.

                                               Watermelon salad!

OMG soooo yummy. I'm religiously against fresh fruit in salads. But it was so savory, with just the right of cooling sweetness.  The perfect addictive salty/sweet combo. I'm going to start testing recipes, so I can make it for a picnic this weekend = ).  I want to play with how different herbs  (basil, mint, cilantro, and thai basil) alter the taste. I'll keep you guys posted on my results.

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Hello There Stranger

Hi I'm Niko-Kitten.  I'm a twenty something Hapa/of mixed race: Black, Asian (Korean and Chinese), and Caucasian. I've appreciated foreign languages/culture. media, and  international cooking all of my life to some degree, but I've never truly explored it much. There's always something more pressing to do or not enough folks in my daily life that have even the slightest interest in these topics. Also, if I'm being honest, I've previously been very gunshy to show too much interest in Asian things, because it would lead to complicated explanations since I neither present phenotypically as Asian nor do I really associate myself as such (Ok well I do partly, but not intensely and not to the point where I'd choose to  bring it up in conversation. A post on this is in the works).

 But  Korean language and media blew me away in 2011. The throaty phonetic quality, the polished snark-like  poetry of  the Korean language, lurking in what might appear bland sentences, and the addictive music, movies, and shows blew me away in 2011. And I've chosen to get over myself and  pursue learning the language and exploring Asian culture, media, and cooking seriously as of this Summer 2013. I want to share this bumpy ride with other curious bystanders, other Hapas, or  language learners/ kind fluent speakers willing join me. Other topics will likely appear, most likely my crafts or daily life updates; hopefully they'll amuse.

I'm  currently studying Korean and Japanese, with Polyglottery being the long term goal, and exploring the object of my passion until further notice. 

Nice to meet you. 始めまして。만나서 반갑습니다. (^-^*)/

Yours,

Niko

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