What I Eat: Vietnamese Side Sauce

You don’t own a blender at home, and you refuse to bend your back over chopping things up. No fear. I have a simple sauce that is sure to play with your taste buds and leave you wanting more. Goes super well with almost any fried/non-fried foods imaginable; only not those already with sauce of their own. If you’re a healthy person, your lettuce and salad would marry this sauce on the spot.

Ingredients:
Mince garlic, one tablespoon of fish sauce, one tablespoon of lime juice, Sugar, and warm water.

So you add them all together. That’s it. Toggle the quantity around to suit your own taste. I assure you that people will ask you for the recipe! If you want some extra kick, put in some chopped chili padi.

I usually make rice paper rolls to go with this. But they make great salad sauce too!

Empty stomach,
Vonnie S.

What I Eat: Korean Pancake

Okay, I promise you that my dishes aren’t complicated. Otherwise I wouldn’t put them up here to help you college students. Here’s another one if you’re into the Hallyu wave lately.

Ingredients:
One cup of flour, one and a half cup of ice cold water, one egg, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of Korean chili paste, vegetable oil, and a whole load of scallions.

Sift the flour into a bowl. Carefully add water to the mix. Any temperature is fine, but I find ice cold water tends to make crispier pancakes. Add the egg. Add the salt. Add the chili paste. Stir them all until they form a batter. The batter is to be runnier than the western pancake for faster cooking.

Heat a frying pan with some oil. Stir-fry some scallions until they are soft. Then make sure they spread evenly around the pan. Next, you take the batter and carefully coat over the scallions. Don’t coat too thick, or the stuff is gonna taste horrible (too doughy). Keep it light and you’ll have better results. Flip the pancake over to cook the other side.

And you’re done! A nice flavored Korean pancake. You may certainly add seafood to the batter for more variety. But I prefer mine plain and simple for sure.

Wild past,
Vonnie S.

What I Eat: Butter Chicken

So, this is a recipe I revamped from Ika’s. You can say that I stole it and added more points to suit my taste. Not exactly better, but it’s something I like to do with all the extra spices lying around.

Ingredients:
Chicken meat, onion, minced garlic, broccoli, carrots, butter, salt, pepper, chili powder, rosemary and parsley.

Fairly easy recipe; don’t have to constantly watch it while you work on your papers. Set oven to around 375 F. Take your chicken meats and vegetable in hand, dump them into a bowl. Add all the mentioned condiments above to taste. Don’t ask me the quantity, I main agak-agak. Mix everything together minus the butter and parsley. After they become one big happy family, you may take a baking plate/tray/something deep so that the butter doesn’t flow all over the place. Yes, that’s your sauce. Lay the chicken nicely like their sunbathing yo.  

Then, take spoonful of butter and put them where necessary. We want both meat and vege to get them okay. Once you’re satisfied, you may put them into the oven for thirty minutes or whenever cooked.  Flip them periodically to avoid it being burnt. Garnish with parsley before serving.

Voila! You got yourself a dish worth serving with rice. Makes a great party potluck dish too!

Really,
Vonnie S.

E: Happy Midautumn Festival

I’ll keep it plain and simple. Happy birthday to me! I had a great weekend minus the rain of course. I'm crab stuffed for awhile. No more ice cream, please! Now we're just keeping to frozen mango and potato samosa in my diet. Time for some roasted chicken.

No sense,
Vonnie S.

What I Eat: Steamed Eggs

If you have a rice cooker with significant dept or a wok that enables you to steam stuff, you may want to try this recipe to satisfy your tofu cravings.

Ingredients:
Eggs, water, salt and one salted egg yolk.

Boil water for steaming purposes. Then proceed to do the next step while the heat works its magic.

Crack your eggs into a bowl. On a 1:1 ratio, add the water to the eggs. Yup, you stir them like your life depends on it. Just make sure they become one liquid. Meh, them salted egg yolk is not really important. But they add flavor and surprise to the dish. You can add mince meats to the mixture as well. Then, pour them over a deep dish. 

Take that dish and put it on a standing pedestal above the boiling water pit. The idea is to let the heat and steam cook the dang thing. You can tell that it's cooked by poking a fork into the egg. If no yellow liquid flows outta those holes you just made, you can be certain that the dish is ready. Garnish with soy sauce, sesame oil and some chopped green onions.

Serve it while it's hot. Yea baby. This is one healthy ass meal that's sure to impress people for its color and smooth texture.

Ding dong,
Vonnie S.

What I Eat: Butternut Squash Porridge

A personal comfort food that needs little care and skills. Honestly, I enjoy having porridge these days due to the dropping temperature. And this will definitely make it appearance on my menu at least once a week. This was an accidental creation; a time I got too lazy for anything brilliant.

Ingredients:
Butternut squash, rice, water, chicken stock, white pepper, sesame oil

Wash your rice and put them inside a pot. Fill half the pot with water (and you may have to occasionally add more because they either evaporates or get absorbed by the rice to maintain texture). Then add in the squash; make sure they are cut into cubes. Cover the pot and let it cook for fifteen minutes. You can then add the chicken stock. Don’t put too much all of a sudden. Taste it before you decide to up the quantity. That’s all!

Garnish with white pepper, sesame oil and some chopped green onions.

There you have it. An easy meal that’s light and savory. You may have some chicken or eggs on the side to compliment it too.

Ding dong,
Vonnie S.

What I Eat: American Potatoes

One of the most celebrated foods during my potluck days. I am pretty sure they’ll make a bang at your future ones too. These things make great party finger foods and your friends will thank you for bringing some potassium into their diet. This recipe works well with yam, pumpkin and sweet potato too!

Ingredients:
Potatoes, Butter, Parsley, Salt, Pepper

Cut the potatoes into thin slices. Then evenly coat salt and pepper with the potato slices in a bowl. Later, heat butter on a frying pan. Once hot, put slices after slices onto the pan. Increase heat and let them brown before flipping them over with a fork or chopstick. Garnish with parsley while they are in the pan before tossing them out on a plate.

Married,
Vonnie S.

What I Eat: White Sauce

The main affair of my life and what is the reason for living is good food. But it doesn’t mean that I am an expert cook. I’ll try to make do this blog posting by inputting some recipes that I, as a busy graduate student, would cook at my tiny studio apartment.

You may or may not be inspired by them, but it’s a lil note for myself as well when it comes to making easy yet time manageable food.

So…when it comes to sauce, there is an impressively simple yet full of Western flavor. Named the white sauce, I came across this at an American friend’s home. It was Thanksgiving and the turkey needed some dressing. Hence came this white blanket coat.

Ingredients:
Butter, Milk and Flour

Melt butter on the pan in low heat. Then you add flour in a 1:1 ration with the butter. Stir them all together until thickens. Finally, you pour in some milk until the texture suits that of a sauce.

Tadaa!! It goes well with steak, fries and anything else imaginable. And trust me, I personally tried making them, so rest assured you won’t go to the hospital.

NY strip,
Vonnie S.

Pep Talk Letter (Part III)

Finally, I can tell you this: improvement cannot do without maintenance. Bluntly speaking, if the event needs to stay on the plateau for next year, so be it. There is no pressure to perform more than necessary, for a decent event is better than a sucky one. Even if ___ doesn’t produce a whole Konoha village next year, who has the right to say that we failed? You will disappoint people if you build an expectation of it for sure, but you sure as heck did not fail. You have but yourself to answer to. Take time to manage the internal organization of ___, seal the cracks, and try to work with respect for one another. I heard that you had CF to help out this year, I wished you didn’t have to, but extreme times call for extreme measures right? Then ask yourself this today, what can be done so that ‘extreme times’ don’t happen again? It is easy for us to ignore and assume that solutions come easy, but like it or not, problems do persist if you don’t get rid of them somehow.

In conclusion, the ___ team needs a new definition and it should be “With great planning and teamwork, come great ___s.” You know, something along the lines of ‘janji ditepati’ but not shady and corrupted. Oops, I did not just say that. Anyway, hope you guys have/had a good post mortem meeting. And may we see each other in the future. 

Sincerely,
Vonnie S.

(pg 03-Final)

Pep Talk Letter (Part II)

Credits to hakanphotography (c) Bloomwood

I had in mind that the event existed to build leadership, teamwork, and character, to give you guys the opportunity to learn about the outside world, to learn a new skill or perhaps hone an existing one, and to have a good time; basically everything you’d expect an event to write in their mission statement. These may or may not have changed with this event, but we’ve got to change the definition of ___. There is a need for structure and order with the existing/future crew. Build goals that all of you work on together and pledge by. Don’t deviate unnecessarily; everyone should be focused and not disarrayed. The last thing you want is walking away from this experience with regret about things that could have been done better or problems left untended.

(pg 02) 

Pep Talk Letter (Part I)

Dear ____s,

It’s ______ here. Some of you know me personally way back when, or perhaps through last year’s ___ where I made a small (and yet sudden) appearance. Whatever goes they say, more importantly so, I would like to congratulate each and every one of you on a job well done with ___ 2013. While you guys were hauling sand to build this castle, I was away in a foreign land buried under piles of journal articles. I may have my academic life in motion, but I couldn’t help thinking about you guys at times. I am therefore grateful for the advancement of technology; I was able to monitor the event’s progress via Facebook, more so through words of mouth from fellow friends, fans, cosplayers, and your senpai-dachi. One thing that definitely defines our event team since 2009 is this: despite all calamities, ___ prevailed again.

Sure feels great doesn’t it? With the event finally over, you’re back to the reality of college, work and perhaps your loved ones. Not only that, you realized that the sandcastle you all built together over the year left you ecstatic. People who went to see your masterpiece were in awe by its attention to details and dedication it served for fellow anime fans. Job well done. This simply means that in the future, you have to strive better to meet the expectations of everyone. That is the FACT, was what I wanted to say but take a second to reflect on your goals as a group for future events. 

(pg 01)

Q: No. Just say NO.

So I got this terrible ulcer on the base of my bottom jaw. It was driving me nuts with the whole change in diet. No spicy or fried food, for the past few days. Never mind that, talking became a punishment. The friction between the ulcer and walls was torturous, like rubbing salt on an open wound. But it got better today, and I rewarded myself with a Subway sandwich. Not only just any sandwich, but one of the teriyaki chicken flavor. Man, that was one satisfying lunch.

Tonight I’ll be heading over to Ankita’s place for dinner. She’s cooking fried rice. I feel bad for freeloading meals ever so often. Need to prepare something for her next time.

While I suffer the canker sore, DS is fighting the pain with the wisdom tooth. And that ought to make me feel better right?

Turn back,
Vonnie S.

Q: Short game, perfect for you.

I have a reason to eat decently this coming weekend. A stranger whom I met on eBay will be purchasing close to $400 worth of posters from me. I won’t be getting all the money, perhaps only half of the amount. Still, that pays for 25% of this month’s rent. In fact, when I told mom about it, she went all “HAAA!” I had the same reaction when I found out that the one poster I bought for $5 at Otakon went up to $100. On top of that, this collector purchased multiple copies of posters. With that, I kindly threw in a free copy of Shana poster.

I sure hope that I remember to harvest more merchandise next year to sell. I need to buy a poster tube to boot. Gah, the ecstatic feeling of making good sales!

Swaying bridge,
Vonnie S.

Q: It seems like you're going to have a good payday!

With Subway doing their $5 foot long sandwich promotion, I became one of their loyal customers overnight. Strictly speaking, it’s going to be so just for the month of September. Heck I even bought a $25 gift card. But then, I realized that I have more cards to carry around. I got con by the marketing strategy again. Pfft, a free six inch sandwich and drink. Sigh, I am getting pathetic by the day.

Drunk,
Vonnie S.

Q: I had to step out for a while to catch a breather.

Today I got up early to soak the last of the summer sun. Ran downtown to the post office and dropped off three tubes, each heading toward their new owners. On top of that, I sent out a package to PJ and Davion. It is meant to be their early Christmas present. It was a great three hour day out. I mean I used up a birthday voucher at Noodles and Company for a bowl of Chicken Japanese Pan Noodles. Honestly, don’t ever order that. I wouldn’t ever next time, even if it’s for free. Should have listened to my gut and choose Pad Thai. Never mind, I’ll have leftovers for dinner anyway. Wow, Godiva gave me $10 to spend. And because the storekeeper took his time to talk to me and stuff, I went ahead and used the vouchers on five truffles. Yesh, those small balls of chocolatey goodness are not cheap. But the guy was cute. There, I said it. Just kidding. I was more attracted by the fact that he talked to me about his day. Cos most of the time you know that those behind the counters are only doing what they call customer service to ask about your day. That went well. I hope this monologue did too.

Submission,
Vonnie S.

Looking for the Beauty in Life (Part II)

I stood there in the false dawn, I looked up for a moment and as I did an iridescent blue butterfly the size of my palm fluttered down and rested on the sleeve of my coat just above my wrist. It was winter, it was cold and I knew the Okanagan Valley, where I had lived most of my young life did not harbor huge, shiny blue butterflies, not even in summer. I remember stripping off my gloves and cupping the insect in my hands, lifting that exquisite creature to the warmth of my mouth in the hope I could save it from the cold….I cupped that delicate butterfly in the hollow of my hands and ran back to the picker’s shack in the hope that somehow the warmth from the morning fire in the woodstove might save it, but when I reached the door and opened my hands, the butterfly died.

I do not know what strange Santa Anna, Squamish or Sirocco jet-steam wind blew that sapphire butterfly from far off…to this valley. I only know the butterfly found its last moments in my hands. I have never forgotten it and know the encounter changed me. There are mornings in our lives where beauty falls into our hands and when that happens, we must do what we can to nurture and protect it. That we sometimes fail must never preclude our striving. The day the beautiful creature died in my hands, I looked up in the dome of the hard, cold sky and I swore to whatever great spirit resides there in the dark clouds that I would live my life to the full and, above all, I would treasure beauty…”

Looking for the Beauty in Life (Part I)

So I received this message in my mail. Will write it down here for ya’ll to read as well.

Canadian Poet, Patrick Lane, describes an experience of beauty that changed his life. He describes his life, “There were times I lived a dissolute, irresponsible and destructive life…times, too, when I was depressed and wretched but I continued to believe in beauty in spite of my weaknesses and fears.” The following is, in part, his address to the convocation at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna, 2012.

“Back in early December of 1958, I was 19 years old, living with my wife and baby boy in a two room apple picker’s shack a few miles down the road from here. I had a job driving dump truck for a two-bit outfit that was working on a short stretch of highway…I remember leaving the shack and walking out to stand by the highway in the wind and the snow. I stood there shivering in my canvas coat as I waited to be picked up by the grader operator in his rusted pickup truck. The sky was hard and grey. Its only gift that winter day was ice disguised as a fragile, bitter snow.

Q: It's my fault for sleeping in.

Credits to beanclam

In the light of a successful business with eBay, I recently created Thank You cards for my customers. I got tired of writing these words by hand, “Thank you so much for your purchase. Kindly leave a positive feedback! Have a nice day.” So I went to do a lil photoshop on someone’s artwork and got several cards made. It is definitely encouraging to see people splurge $20 or more on a single poster. Made me kick myself for not going around doing poster hunting at Otakon. Seriously, those things make big bucks.

Deer mai fun,
Vonnie S.

Q: This computer has limited connectivity.

Back to the story. I wonder why. Though, I am not one who gets hung up on the small things. Look, bottom line I just want to say this. We all watch anime for many reasons, just like the many people out there who read books or play games. Say if you will that it is a form of escapism or porn, be it thought-provoking or emotionally charged material; we’re all seeking to do things that satisfy the soul. For me, a good anime can be many things; one with a solid, well-developed plot or one with beautiful graphics, perhaps I might even confess to loving those with eargasmic soundtracks. In honesty, I’m far too tired for good manners, at least when it comes to defending anime. There is no need for it. Only a fool would get themselves hurt by resisting, and that the government instilled deeply inside us, Msians.  

The verdict,
Vonnie S.

Q: Is that how Asians say?

In this modern animation society, there has been a small dispute between fans. The question in question is to watch censored or uncensored version of a particular anime. There is a huge gap between the carefree-nature of viewers like myself and those who believe in the responsibility of upholding the innocence of Japanese anime. Weighing these two options, any normal otaku would ask themselves, “would it have mattered either way?”

Say if you’ve watched sufficient Hollywood violence, you’d probably grow desensitized as effect of prolonged exposure. In my option, the same can be said with anime and its fan service. Its world has been invaded with plenty of screen time featuring flashy boobs and panty-shots. We know for a fact that the animation industry in Japan struggles one series after another. They’d probably managed a slight victory if their anime series made it to word-of-mouth status. That too is a challenge, and there is hardly any ways to cut corners. Hence, you try to sell your characters hard. You make them careless, curious, and shallow. By you, I really mean those involved in genre seeking to entertain rather than educate.

Such is the reality of post-puberty. This damn ulcer is killing me. Ugh, I’ll continue this after I salt this bugger.

Bad feeling,
Vonnie S.

Q: I know you better than you know yourself.

I am hungry. I shall fry some potato samosas, and make tofu soup. I’d need mah protein, now that I don’t take in that much meat. They have to come from somewhere I suppose. My next source should be the eggs. The meats in the USA are more contaminated than I thought, but I’ll have them sparingly. So, that’s a relief. In fact, I may have to do some groceries this coming weekend. I may get some bacon while I’m at it.

Lower calorie intake on food, and while I may not exercise all that much I hope that I stay healthy. Will be super fired up to exercise once I’m done with grad school. So excited for a time when my schedule is all fixed and planned out.

Fall together,
Vonnie S.

Q: With a fluttering heart, the girl waits...

Fall is coming soon. I can feel it with the chilly temperature and the earlier sunset. I can’t believe that it’s been a year since I’ve arrived at Baltimore. Whether I really like the city or not, I guess I’m on the fence. Once I got used to the city, it wasn’t that bad anymore. Touch wood, nothing serious happened. So far, it’s been treating me nicely and may that track record continue. I’d like to stick around for another year or so. I didn’t think I’d be adjusting well to the city without Carmen’s help. Even so, I did well with exploration myself. Something is regretful, missing almost from the atmosphere here.

I miss Kuala Lumpur and Kalamazoo badly for one main reason; companionship. I wasn’t able to make many close ones over here. As most of my problems are mainly situational-based, I am left to rant over here. Even so, I don’t do so often. But I promise you, I’m doing just fine.

Choo choo,
Vonnie S.

Q: I don't know if I should really put that..

Now what about the weekends? Heck, I’m leaving them for my research thesis. That isn’t going quite well for now and I’ll have to buck up fast. Anyway, I still have my entertainment time for those days.

Saturday: Running Man
Sunday: Dad, Where are you Going?

Yea, I’ll be having an affair with the Korean lots during the weekends. You said that there’s going to be a new cycle of anime soon. What about that? I really have nothing to say, nothing to say at all. Eh, you seriously wanna ask that question? Replace jer la, doink! Haha~

Informal,
Vonnie S.

Q: The pizza coupon will expire on Sep 24th.

Since it’s the new semester, I will have to schedule my entertainment time nicely and systematically. Don’t wanna abuse the time I have. So check out what I’ve gotten thus far;

Monday: Gin no Saji & Free!
Tuesday: Toaru no Kagaku Railgun S & Danganronpa
Wednesday: Hunter x Hunter & Love Lab
Thursday: Uchouten Kazoku & Shingeki no Kyojin
Friday: Watamote & Inu to Hasami

When I showed this list to a friend, she gasped pretty loudly. “How on earth do you still have time for anime?” While I was a tad bit upset by her words, I did understood where she was coming from. As soon as she said that, I wanted to be defensive. I wanted to say that the time she claimed I had was simply the amount of time she used to go out for drinks, Gossip Girls, Hunger Games, shopping and what not.

But I kept my cool. I said, “one must have a balance of fun and stress, otherwise I’ll lose my sanity.” Holding onto this little plan I have for myself, hopefully I can be a better student this semester.

One heart,
Vonnie S.