Kitchen Notes: Honey Dijon Salmon

Salmon + Dijon mustard + Honey = quick and tasty dinner!

I’m gonna try to keep track of the things I eat.  It’ll make me more aware of my nutrition and plus, I can look back to the foods I’ve made in case I can’t think of anything to eat (not likely to happen often though ).

So to start, tonight I made Honey Dijon Salmon.  The “recipe” was very simple and easy.

Honey-Dijon Salmon, as seen by my phone.

1. THE FISH: Put a salmon fillet onto a baking sheet.  Mine has been frozen for at least 5 months and had a rather strong fishy odor.  No idea if that was bad or not, but in any case, I ate it and I’m fine!
2. THE HONEY-DIJON SAUCE: Pour (or in my case, squeeeeze) some dijon mustard into a small bowl, and add honey to sweeten until it suits your tastes.  Pour some olive oil (or any other cooking oil) into the bowl as well.  Melted butter would probably taste better, but I only had oil on hand, so oil it was!
3. HONEY DIJON SAUCE + FISH: Spoon/spread/pour/brush, do whatever it takes to get the honey dijon sauce onto the salmon fillet.  I justed spooned it on and spread it around to cover the fish.
4. Bake honey dijon salmon in the oven at 350 degress F, for 12-15 minutes.  Somewhere around that time frame…I did it for 13 min.
5. Eat!

I also blanched green beans as a side.  Thanks to Hieu for telling me how to do this should-be-basic technique.  Shame on me for not knowing…I usually just saute veggies with garlic and nuoc mam, haha!

Anyway, that’s what I ate today.  Looks like diet food…but delicious nevertheless!  The honey-dijon sauce made the salmon so creamy!  Honey gives it some sweetness, while dijon mustard gives it a little tang…well, this combo should’ve been obvious anyway ^-^  Although the salmon was still kinda fishy…at least the sauce masked it a little!

Oh, the Manga Section

Yesterday, I went to Barnes and Nobles to study with my sister, while we waited for my brother to finish watching Avatar in the nearby theater.  Yes, I did get some studying done for LS 3…but Avatar is an insanely long movie, so I eventually got bored and wandered off to find something to read at a particular section.

Ahh, I’m so embarrassed to even say it!  But here goes…I went to the manga section!

Oh, the manga section. Physical reminder of my (everyone’s?) awkward middle school  years. When I walk by, I see kids as young as 8 and teens as old as, I dunno, 18?, just sitting around the shelves, reading manga.  I can barely stand to even look at this section.  Maybe I’m just ashamed of my penchant for…cheesy romances with somehow attractive male characters (despite them being drawings! insanely good-looking drawings!) in some fantasy/historical/modern-day setting with issues that can seem as far off as being from another world but are really things that everyone can relate to and stuff, plotlines that essentially repeat over and over again with slightly different elements.

To state what should be obvious, I’m a geek!  A closet geek!  But I’m not very good at keeping it in the closet…everyone can tell, can’t they?

Anyway, despite my shame, I wandered towards that section anyway, to grab a certain series I wanted to finish.  I started reading the scanlations online a few years back, but after it got licensed (i.e. I couldn’t read it online for free anymore) I forgot about it until now, randomly. So I sneak by, grab it, and run back.

When I think about it, I’ve read a lot of manga and watched quite a bit of anime.  More manga than anime because scanlations are easier to access for me, and I like reading + pictures.  Nerdy?  Yes.  I’ve never really thought about it in-depth, but here I would like to list and summarize my favorite manga/anime series. For fun.

Fruits Basket

Cute and good-hearted Tohru finds herself living with a bunch of good-looking guys who happen to be under a curse that turns them into zodiac animals whenever they hug the opposite sex.  Love triangle between the main girl and two boys, one of them polite and amicable, the other bold and brash (guess which one she ends up with…).  Takes place in modern-day high school setting.  So cute. This is the only manga series I’ve actually bought…I have most of the volumes, in fact!

Red River / Heaven is Beside the Red River / Anatolia Story

More commonly known as “Red River” or sometimes “Anatolia Story”, ‘cuz it takes place in the ancient Hittite kingdom of the Anatolia region.  Japanese girl Yuri is pulled into the past by a scheming queen intending to sacrifice her, meets a handsome crown prince Kail who seems like a playboy at first but turns out to be really quite a sweetheart, and throughout her adventures to save the kingdom and yadda-yadda, falls in love with him and decides to stay forever and rule the kingdom with him. Lovely historical setting with many characters and events drawn from actual history.  Randomly, there’s another older manga called “Ouke no Monshou” that is like EXACTLY the same, except it takes place in Egypt.  I like Ouke no Monshou too, but I just like Red River better =)

Goong

Normal high school girl Chae-Gyeong agrees to an arranged marriage with none other than the arrogant and (of course) wealthy Crown Prince Shin of an alternate-reality-monarchy-ruled Korea in this modern-day royal drama.  She gets pretty depressed throughout the series, after dealing with the strict traditions of the palace, the insensitivity of Shin (stupid boys!), and a few love triangles.  That’s right; she’s gotta deal with Shin’s ex-girlfriend, an accomplished ballerina who wants Shin back, and Shin’s cousin Yul, an exiled Prince who will do anything for Chae-Gyeong’s heart. The series is still ongoing, and I’m still hoping for Chae-Gyeong and Shin to finally smooth everything out…but ahh, this manhwa plays out like a Korean drama and there are sooo many obstacles in their way!!

Love Monster

Happy-go-lucky Hiyo somehow gets accepted in SM academy, a school for monsters, and meets the school’s president, Kurou, who claims to be her fiance. Strange and funny things happen to her at this school, and she soon finds out that she’s a “monster” herself, a White Crow who is rumored to be able to grant any wish. Needless to say, she finds herself in even stranger situations.  Hiyo is silly and adorable, while Kurou is your typical confident and possessive male lover harboring great demon powers, and together with their rather colorful classmates, they have some interesting times. I recall it getting rather pervy at times, despite the cutesiness, ‘cuz Kurou can’t seem to get his hands off Hiyo…I think that’s weird because she looks like a little girl, but then again, this a Japanese comic so…yes.

Princess

There is one word that immediately comes to mind when I think of this series: SAD.  It is so freakin’ sad!  It takes place in some faraway medieval era with 3 main kingdoms, where the stories of several girls unfolds.  There are several main characters, all of them related to royal figures in these kingdoms.  It’s basically all about the politics and romances in this manhwa, and the stories span a few generations.  I thought Princess was really good at first, but after tragedy after tragedy struck, I lost interest.  Everyone’s probably gonna die anyway…but at least they’ll die wearing pretty dresses!

Saiunkoku Monogatari / The Story of Saiunkoku

I’ve only watched the anime, but there is a manga version so I figure it counts.  The basic premise is that this girl Shurei wants to become  the first female to take a government position in this Chinese-inspired kingdom of Saiunkoku. I really enjoyed this series…it’s got a lot of politics, interesting characters, made-up history, and some romance (of course!).

I don’t really know why I made this list, because the only person who could possibly interested is me! ^_^ Just wanted to add that other series I’ve liked are Fushigi Yuugi (also Genbu Kaiden), Ayashi no Ceres, xxxHolic, Vampire Knight, Inuyasha, and Tsubasa wo Motsu Mono. Gosh, I’ve read so many that I don’t even know anymore…these are the ones that are most memorable to me!

If there was a point to this post, it might be that, based on the above list, I like stories with lots of romance, politics, historical backgrounds (=pretty clothes too!), and cute boys.  So basically, I am a girl.  Cool.

Cinnamon Pearl Pied!

Boba, my beautiful pearl pied, was in fact NOT what I thought she was…on closer inspection, she was a lovely cinnamon pearl pied!  How did I not realize this?  Ahhhh…!!

(WARNING: random bird knowledge ahead! ;D)

I’m talking about cockatiel coloration.  See, normal cockatiels are simple.  They have grey bodies with yellow faces, and orange cheeks.  These are your standard wild ‘tiel colors, as found in nature.  Selective breeding with cockatiels in captivity (as in, not wild!) makes for a wider variety of colors.  That’s because breeders can play with genetics and bring out certain traits by breeding cockatiels exhibiting certain mutations.  Kinda like how all the different breeds of dogs came to be, except not as extreme.  These are just tiel colors, after all

So anyway, cinnamon tiels are not really grey, they’re more brown (hence the “cinnamon”! =D).  Ranges from greyish-tan to chocolatey brown.  When I look back at pictures of Boba, she is clearly grey-tan, and not pure silvery grey like normal cockatiels.

Conclusion: Ooh. Boba’s a cinnamon! A cinnamon pearl pied!

That’s pretty fancy…my precious Boba has 3 categories of mutation! /proud

Boba, my (newly identified) cinnamon pearl pied cockatiel!

She looks fat in this picture, but no worries, she was only fluffing up and getting comfortable Another random thing to note is the horizontal barring under her tail.  That means she’s a female.

How to sex cockatiels (very generally!):

• Horizontal bars under the tail: usually present on females, absent on males
• Pearling: Pearl markings disappear on males after their second molt, but will remain foreverrrr on females
• Cheek patches: Brighter orange on males, duller orange on females

It’s pretty hard to sex them when their babies, but after the first or second molt, you should be able to visually sex a cockatiel.  Boba, with her pearls and horizontal bars, is clearly a female!  I really can’t say anything about cheek patches because I don’t have a good comparison, but that’s what I’ve heard!

I miss having a bird.  Oh well.  One day I’ll get another one!  But no bird will ever replace Boba in my heart <3

Alright, end of the nerdy bird post

Flower Puppy

Daisy, my lovely flower puppy!

Isn’t it adorable?  It’s my flower puppy.  My mom named it Daisy!  My sister and I made it as a holiday gift to my parents.  I first got the idea from my roommate Julie, who made a better looking one

The day we made it, Amy and I drove all over town looking for a flower store that sold chrysanthemums.  Actually, we weren’t really sure what kind of flowers to use, but my roommate said “mums” so that only flower I could think of were chrysanthemums.  But I’m a flower n00b, so I didn’t know that “mums” could mean many different types of flowers! Cool!

We drove to about 3 flower stores: a small local florist that advertises as selling directly from growers, a chain store (Starts with Con and ends in Roy o_o), and another local florist that was much friendlier than the first.  At the first store we visited, I once ordered many flowers to make Hawaiian leis for my high school’s Multi-cultural festival, but they didn’t have what I wanted.  The chain store didn’t even know what I was talking about.  But the final store, which is my new favorite florist (not that I ever buy flowers usually xD), knew exactly what I needed, and even looked up a picture of a flower puppy to help me!  They gave me everything I needed to make it, and it was relatively cheap too!

For about $10, you can make a flower puppy!  Here’s what I used:

• 5-10 stems of mums.  Chrysanthemums, china mums will work, even carnations will work.  The number you get depends on the size of the flower; smaller flowers often = more blooms per stem, so you get less stems, etc. I used about 6 stems of mums, with maybe 5 blooms on each stem?
• Oasis floral foam.  It’s this spongey block used for flower arrangement.  You stick flowers in it, and water the block so that it keeps the flower fresh, AND holds them in place!  The nice florist lady helped cut it down to the right size for me.
• Basket. To hold the flower puppy in, of course!  Line the basket with plastic or something to keep water from leaking out.  Put the floral foam in the basket, cut it to size, and arrange flowers accordingly.
• Decorative features: eyes, nose, ribbon, greenery.  So many ways to do these!  My roommate used black masking tape for the eyes and nose.  I happened to have these weird gummy eyeballs from Halloween, so I used them as the dogs eyes and cut one for the nose. They were sticky so they stuck to the flowers, but to secure them further I used toothpicks to hold them down onto the Oasis foam.  For greenery, I just used the leaves from the mums.  You could also go grab random leaves from outside.  The point is to cover up the Oasis and make the dog look like it’s popping out from a basket of nature.  Ribbons just make the dog look cuter

My dog looked kinda wacky, but here’s the model that I used to make her (yes, Daisy is a she! <3).  By model, I mean I looked at a picture online and tried to replicate

Daisy's better-looking relative

And here’s another picture of my Daisy in the same pose.  Because she only has one pose o_o

I wuv you Daisy!

Don’t forget to add a tail to the back!  Heehee, flower puppies are great gifts.  I hope to make another one day! =)

Wannabe

I wish I could be a better friend.  I seem to be only good for making people happy–and that’s only if they are already feeling light-hearted.  But when my friends are sad or troubled, I can’t seem to do anything for them.  I don’t even know the right words to say.  I guess you can’t really make people feel better with words, but still…there must be something I can do that’s better than what I’m currently doing!

For example:

Friend calls, tells me about her recent troubles (and my closest friends seem to have many ) and how she just wants to get away from it all right now.

Me: …Let’s go for ice cream, that’ll make you feel better!

Friend: …err no.

Me: How about (list more foods and random activities like cake, visiting the pet store, fruits, window shopping, etc.)

Friend eventually stops telling me about her troubles x_x

I really value these moments because whenever someone opens up to me about their feelings, I feel so honored to be let in (I usually don’t open up to others, so it really feels special when others do to me), that I want to make sure they know I really care!  But I feel that because I don’t have the “right” things to say to help someone out, I end up only offering to lighten their spirits with things that, in my book, are fun/good/tasty.  But that’s just like giving a wounded person a band-aid.  The band-aid can come in many different shapes and colors, but in the end it’s only meant to temporarily patch a wound and cover up what’s inside.

Okay, and I can’t help but mention that band-aids also help prevent infection by keeping wounds clean, but that’s beside the point! ._.”

What I mean is, there must be more than this “band-aid method” in trying to help someone deal with their problems.  I want to be the type of friend that my friends can depend on and trust, not just a friend who’s only good for being happy-go-lucky.  I already feel like I’m being isolated more and more into that latter category.  In that case, I could hardly call myself a friend…true friends are supposed to be the people you count on when you’re down, right?  I want to be that type of friend…I want to be able to comfort others and say the “right” thing.  But what are the “right words”??  In a more existentialist light, perhaps the “right words” can never be truly defined…they only become “right” when the other person who hears them takes meaning from it.  AHH curse existentialism, it makes all my rants completely useless!  Now I’ve killed it.  What’s the phrase my mom taught me the other night?  ”Lam cuc hang” or something like that…to kill the conversation!

I am digressing from the main point (…the main point being what again? o_o), but I guess it’ll suffice to say that I feel like I don’t always know if my intentions go through the way I want them to.  The people around me always mean a lot to me, but I don’t think I appreciate them enough, and when it comes down to the important things, perhaps I have not paid enough attention to them to know the best things to say.

Must learn, must listen! Must learn to listen!

Tomato Dreams

I am really craving some Vietnamese-style stuffed tomatoes today.

Oh, it makes my mouth water!  Why oh whyyy can’t there be a grocery store right next door to me?  Better yet, I wish there was a Vietnamese food-to-go place that made these nearby.  YAY cà farci!

Lecture Love

Yesterday I listened to one of the best lectures of my undergraduate career.  The class, Health Services Organization.  The topic, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and how the health care system can change to include it.

Why was it so amazing?  Maybe because the guest lecturer was so passionate about the future of health care and wellness, and hit upon points that I am also passionate about.  I felt like everything in his lecture just clicked with me, and what I wanted for my future.  I recently decided to pursue a future career in medicine, with a dream of working in both primary care and public health (it’s veryyy easy to combine the two, actually! ^-^).  The “patient-centered medical home” model the lecturer brought up was like a dream come true…and it’s actually in practice, it actually works!  I am still a young, idealistic student, but in the future, I really want to be the type of doctor who not only treats her patients’ ailments, but makes sure that those patients understand how to live a healthier life.  I want to encourage people to protect their wellness, both physically and mentally.  I want to actually give my patients the time of day!

Is it realistic?  No, especially not with the current medical system.  We do not reimburse primary care doctors for preventive measures.

An exaggerated example from the lecture -
Case 1. A doctor sees a diabetes patient.  This patient does not take care of their diabetes very well, and ends up having his/her foot amputated as a result.  Insurance gives the doctor $10,000 for the amputation.

Case 2.  The doctor takes time to counsel and educate the diabetes patient.  The patient learns to take care of their diabetes, and as a result, has it all under control, no amputations or anything.  The doctor gets paid $100 for counseling.

Again, these are pretty big exaggerations, but the main message is still clear: the current reimbursement system does not work in favor of prevention.  Not saying that treating the ill is bad or anything, but if doctors were actually reimbursed for preventive measures, then doctors would have more of an incentive to help keep their patients healthy.  And then, in my happy ideal world, health-educated people would get sick less –> the burden of the sick on the health care system is lessened –> we save money!  This argument is the core lesson of my Health Services class, and heck, of health care reform in general!  Simple it may be, but isn’t it nice? =P

Okay, so I totally didn’t mean to ramble about the issues of the current U.S. healthcare system.  The point is, the lecture I listened to in Health Services yesterday was probably the best 2 hours of my classroom existence!  And I was really happy about it, yay!  Although an article once said…

“What do you give medical students who want to go into primary care?”

Answer: A brain scan.

There are so many issues with primary care in the U.S. right now.  But I really feel that it is where I want to be in the future.  I hope to be able to work for the changes I believe are for the better, and to adopt a model of  community- and patient-centered care.  YAY for dreams!

An apple a day for good health!

On another note, I just got accepted into this student volunteer program I applied to this quarter!  It’s to be a clinic assistant at a nearby free clinic, and work with low-income/homeless/Spanish-speaking families.  I’m very surprised; I thought I scared my interviewers when I bounced through the interview, with my sugar-high enthusiasm.  Nevertheless, I am so glad for the opportunity to finally do some hands-on volunteering with patients.  Hope I get to learn cool new clinical skills!

My Fingers Smell Like Jackfruit

Last night, I ate jackfruit…and since then, I’ve washed my hands maybe 8 times?  With soap, scrubbing vigorously for 20 seconds.  And the next morning, my fingers still smell like jackfruit!  I guess my soap isn’t strong enough to overcome the power of jackfruit.  Don’t get me wrong–I like the smell of jackfruit!  But it’s also pretty weird waking up to the smell of overly-sweet tropical fruitiness radiating from my hands.

Eating jackfruit is not messy per se, but just more hands-on than other fruits.  The fruit itself is like a big, spiky melon, and you need to cut it up.  But unlike a melon, the edible fruits are like little pods scattered among inedible thick strings we call xơ (pronounced like “suh”).  I don’t know how else to describe it, but anyway the point is that you have to tear the pieces of fruit out from these stringy coverings, and that’s how the smell sticks to you.  Sounds like a bit of work, but trust me, the reward is great!  I love eating jackfruit

Whole Jackfruit, probably twice the size of my head.

Pieces of jackfruit! Juicy, sweet, delicious!

Jackfruit is a Southeast Asian fruit, so it’s not very common elsewhere.  A few years ago, you couldn’t even get jackfruit in the U.S.–well you could, but it was just really expensive, and frozen, not fresh.  I remember going with my parents to a Vietnamese supermarket when I was younger, and watching them get excited over this giant spiky melon thing.  They almost bought it for $80, except the store was cash-only so we didn’t have enough on us to buy it.

Nowadays, you can find jackfruit in tons of Vietnamese supermarkets, for as little as $0.99/lb!  They grow jackfruit in Mexico now, so it’s much easier to access.  Mexican jackfruit apparently tastes a little bit different from Southeast Asian jackfruit, though…

According to Wikipedia [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit ]

The sweet yellow flesh around the seeds is about 3–5 mm thick and has a taste similar to that of pineapple, but milder and less juicy, though some have said its taste is somewhat reminiscent of cantaloupe. The Mexican variety of the Jackfruit tastes of fruit cocktail. Flavours of pineapple, strawberry, and peach can be discerned.

So there you have it.  Mexican jackfruit tastes more like fruit cocktail.  I haven’t eaten enough Southeast Asian jackfruit to really tell, so it’s really all the same to me.  I suppose that I can now tell people who don’t know what jackfruit is that my fingers smell like fruit cocktail, pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberry, and peach o_o

Anyway, I’m going to go wash my hands again.  Hopefully the smell comes off this time! =)

On a random note, it’s 9/9/09 today.  Cool!

New Phone

I got a new phone today…for free, thanks to the combination of 2-year renewal bonuses and discounts from Verizon Wireless.  It’s a Samsung Alias 2!

Some interesting features (i.e. the ones I care about xD):

• Dual-hinge design: It’s a 2-way flip!  You can flip it like a traditional flip phone, or you can open it up like a clamshell (I like this way better!)
• “E-ink” magic keypad: the keys are technically just blank tiles; the symbols on these tiles will change according to the orientation of the phone and what function you need.  You can change from numbers to a QWERTY keypad.  VERY handy for texting and stuff!
• 2.0 Megapixel camera: yay, an upgrade from my previous phone’s 1.3 mp!

I love playing around with these new phone! It makes the cutest sounds, heehee.  I like that the font of the phone is also customizable; my current font, “Choco Cookie” is really adorable!   It’s also really fun to flip the phone around and watch the “magic keypad” change.

The only thing left to do now is customize my phone even further by adding new ringtones and pictures and stuff.  Yay for new phones!

Harvest Moon

I have a confession to make: I’m addicted to Harvest Moon.

Okay, so maybe that’s not much of a confession.  I’ve been playing Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (HM: ToT) for Nintendo Wii almost every day for the past few weeks.  I just love it!  I play for hours on end, hehe, when I probably should be doing other things

I’m currently in Summer, Year 2.  My character’s name is Mandy, and she’s married to the mayor’s son, Gill (marriage event was Spring 14, Year 2; I’m fast ).  “Sunshine Ranch” (I took the default name ‘cuz “Hidden Valley Ranch” wouldn’t fit!) is on a town plot, and I have grand plans of expanding it to increase my farming profits!  I grow lots of crops, and want to have some flowers and tree orchards as well!  I’ll be upgrading my house and kitchen soon to cook profitable dishes, too.  Entrepreneurial spirit gooooo!

My animals (currently):

• 6 chickens (white): Cluckie, Lemon, Meringue, Nilla, Nugget, and Sriracha.
• 2 cows: Bella (brown) and Alice (black); if you’re thinking Twilight…yes o_o
• 1 sheep: Rapunzel (white)
• 1 goat: Daisy (white)
• 1 horse: Felicity (black)
• 1 silkworm: Silkoon (green)

I really love Harvest Moon: ToT.  The first Harvest Moon game I ever played was HM 3…I found some cheat that made me very rich, very quick!   When I married the bachelor, however, my game ENDED.  In the boy version, you get married, your wife has a kid, it’s all happy-happy, yayyy…but in the girl version (which I obviously played), you get married and the credits start rolling!!!  Why? Because the game is totally sexist!! WTH! T_T  That’s why I love HM: ToT…I got married, and life continues ^-^  I can even have a kid in a few more seasons; more labor for my farm!

But anyway, what inspired me to write about Harvest Moon was a trailer I saw today for a new Wii game, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (a.k.a. “Waku Waku/Exciting Animal March” in Japan)

There are so many more animals!  In the trailer, there’s even a GIRAFFE!  And you can ride it too, along with any other 4-legged animal!  There are sooo many more outfits and accessories in this game…this is such an appealing factor for me, I love to dress up my character!  You can have more pets, and even teach them tricks.  You can even have 2 children (HM: ToT only allows one), and you can put them to work on your farm, of course.  The game takes place in the same setting as HM: ToT, on Waffle Island, but the storylines and roles of the characters will be different.

I am really excited for this game.  Needless to say, HM: Animal Parade is high on my wishlist!  For now though, I will focus on playing HM: Tree of Tranquility.  I haven’t finished the main storyline yet, and there’s still a lot of things I need to spiffy up my ranch