winter lunch

This Saturday I made lunch for my good friend Jessi Judd and her fiance.  I first met Jessi when we were missionaries for our church in Russia.  We lived together and while relations between us weren't alway smooth, she has become one of my closest friends.  She is getting married in a few weeks, and I wanted to make her something delicious for lunch while her and her fiance filled prepared their wedding announcements to be mailed.
I decided to make them a seasonal meal.  Winter in most of the United States, Canada and Temperate Europe means squash, root vegetables, cheeses, fish, grains, pastas, salted/preserved meats and hardy apples.  Especially with carbon footprints to think about, and our own health, I made lunch from as many local ingredients and seasonally available items as possible.  These are hearty dishes that stick to your insides and provide warmth and comfort on chilly winter days.

Baked Shells and Cheese
1 pound/450g whole wheat shells(I used organic Delallo Shells no. 91)
300g Smoked Gouda shredded
300g Emmentaler shredded, divided
500ml milk
bacon, chopped (three slices short of 1 lb/450g)
3-4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 large leeks, whites only chopped
half a medium yellow onion chopped
1 hardy winter apple chopped small(braeburn, etc)
homemade croutons, or crostini for the topping
preheat oven 350F/175C
set the shells to boil in salted water, once cooked al dente remove from heat, drain, run cold water to prevent further cooking and set aside
fry the bacon in a wide saucepan, once crispy remove to paper towels
in the bacon grease, fry the onion until soft, add the leeks until all are starting to caramelize, remove.
in the same saucepan on low heat melt the butter and add the flour, cook until it starts to froth and bubble.
add the milk, cook slowly until the sauce starts to thicken
add the bacon, onion and leeks to the white sauce
cook a little longer to thicken and marinate the flavors
add the 300g gouda and 250g emmentaler
melt the cheese into the sauce
salt, pepper to taste (fresh ground nutmeg if desired)
toss the sauce, shells and apples together and put in a 9x13 baking dish
top with croutons or crostini crumbled, and the remaining 50g emmentaler cheese
bake for 15-20 minutes till apples are tender and the cheese is melted throughout and on top

Roasted Butternut Squash with Beets
one medium butternut squash
3-5 small/medium beets
1/2 yellow onion
3 large sprigs fresh rosemary(an evergreen herb, you can have this fresh all year round and it is great for seasoning everything from veggies to poultry and fish)
kosher salt
butter or olive oil
pre-heat oven to 400F/200C
peel and chop the beets(at this point you can also par-boil the beets if you prefer a really tender beet, I didn't do this because I love the contrast between the super soft squash and firmer beet)
peel and chop the butternut squash
remove rosemary leaves from the stems and chop finely
chop in rather large chunks the yellow onion
melt enough butter to lightly coat the chopped veggies and toss with salt to taste and the rosemary
roast on a baking tray in the oven for 35-40min until the beets are sufficiently tender, stirring occasionally
turn on the broiler the last 5-7min to get nice coloring and caramelization.
serve with a grapefruit ginger glaze if desired.

Grapefruit Ginger Glaze
juice of one grapefruit(okay, so this is imported....I cheated)
few rosemary leaves
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3-4 quarter sized pieces of fresh peeled ginger
simmer the ingredients on low heat until thickened slightly
pour over the roasted veggies and toss well

it's that time!

So this week I finally was able to get more things in order for Christmas, which is hilarious because I'm leaving next week to go back to the States for a month which means I'll just get to do it all over again! WOOO! I finally finished decorating the tree, which was a bit of a drama because finding Christmas lights was way more difficult than it was last year.  I also started Christmas baking.  I made two types of cut out cookies; Gingerbread and Sugar.  I used a new Gingerbread recipe...both are not original recipes of my own but they are still really good, and the links are included there.  The only change I made, was that I added a tiny bit of almond extract to the sugar cookies.  Also I converted all the measurements in the Gingerbread recipe to metric because I weigh in all my baking now, it makes my results more consistent and I use fewer dishes, and I am not always searching for pesky missing measuring cups.

That being said, I am really happy with the results now.  I used this frosting for the sugar cookies, I just substituted regular shortening for butter flavored, because it is what I had.  I made a traditional Royal Icing for the Gingerbread men(1 egg white+5.3oz of confectioners sugar) and I added a bit of orange extract, because orange goes so well with gingerbread. The gingerbread men were inspired by mini-gingerbread cookies I saw in Marks&Spencer's over a week ago, they were decorated in a similar fashion and were called Jazzy Trousers, so I hope these Gingery-men enjoy their fancy Christmas outfits :)
I also finally finished decorating the Christmas Tree.  There was a bit of a drama in that department.  I only got to enjoy the decorated tree for a few days before taking off home to the States for Christmas.  But my Dad will be Home Alone(!) for another week and I know he enjoys it.
Christmas isn't just a time for decorating and baking, it is a great time to get to know your neighbors by bringing them treats of the season, and making up for not being neighborly the previous 11 months.  I recommend getting to know your neighbors, mostly because when they know you, they seem to be quieter at night :)

hearty cheesy veggies

Dinner tonight I used up more veg that my Mom had in the fridge but obviously had no plans for.  Also some expensive cheese that wasn't being eaten fast enough.
There was still spinach that seemed to be freezing nicely in the back of the fridge and a goodly amount of small new potatoes, so I went to work.  All I had to replenish was our onion supply.  It is my belief that no kitchen in winter should be without onions.  Actually no kitchen, ANY season should be without onions, but especially in Winter.  Onions are a hearty root vegetable that lasts well through the winter months and provides much needed nutrition during cold weather.  This recipe would still taste great with double the amount of onions. They taste so, so good.
So here you have it:

Spinach and Potatoes au Gratin

one bunch of spinach, or one 10oz package of frozen spinach

2 pounds of potatoes chopped

1/2 a LARGE onion chopped

two cloves of garlic crushed and chopped

3 tablespoons of butter

3 tablespoons of flour

2.5 cups of milk

1 cup of dry white wine

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

2.5 cups grated emmentaler cheese

pre-heat the oven at 200C/400F

saute the onions in the butter at medium high heat, after they have wilted and are transparent add the garlic, continue to cook until the onions have started to caramelize a bit

add the flour, make a roux

add the milk

simmer the milk until thickened slightly, add the nutmeg and some salt and pepper

(while the sauce is cooking prepare the potatoes and spinach, toss them in a 9x13 pan that has been pre-buttered)
once the milk is starting to thicken you can add the white wine to thin it out a bit
allow to simmer and thicken a bit again

add 1/2 cup of cheese to the sauce

taste the sauce make sure it is to you liking, season to taste - cloves are also a good addition, but a tiny pinch should be enough

pour the sauce over the potatoes and spinach, toss to make sure everything is mixed and touching some sauce.

top with the remaining cheese

place aluminum foil over the pan and bake for 40min

after 40min take the foil off and turn the broiler on for 5-10 min.

The cheese will get nice and browned on the top. 

Serve with a slice or two of Dark Rye bread(it's great for mopping up the extra gratin sauce)

Basil Fingers

As many of my close friends know, I love to cook.  Well, mostly I love to feed people I love good food.  So I don't know why I didn't do this earlier, but I have a goal to post one meal a week now of things that I create. Recently Americans celebrated Thanksgiving.  And, even though I live in South China, I was no exception.  I actually cooked TWO Thanksgiving Dinners this year! Anyways, like many I had a bit of leftover turkey and a turkey carcass that I needed to use.  So like many, after picking larger pieces off the turkey, I made a giant pot of turkey stock.  I salvaged more meat from the bird, and after putting most of the stock in the freezer, I took a look in my cupboards and concocted a dish that was far removed from Thanksgiving fare.  This was even better reheated the second day.  After cooking it my fingers smelled like basil...I love that.

Turkey Potato Florentine

1/2 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves smashed and roughly chopped

3 tablespoons of butter

3 tablespoons of flour

1 cup of turkey stock

shredded turkey as available

1 large 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes(this is what I had, but I'm sure diced tomatoes, mixed with tomato sauce work just fine

10 small golden new potatoes, sliced into bite sized coins

two large handfuls of fresh basil roughly chopped

healthy splash of red wine(I used cabernet sauvignon)(maybe 1/2cup)

1/4 cup or so of sour cream(can also use milk for lower fat)

salt and pepper to taste

two large handfuls of fresh spinach well chopped

boil the potatoes in some stock and water until tender, set aside(or do this while everything else is cooking)

saute the onion in the butter, crush and add the garlic a bit later - brown a little but don't burn.

add the flour, make a roux

add the turkey stock

simmer till it has thickened

add the tomatoes and shredded turkey

simmer until this has thickened a bit

add the potatoes and red wine.

cook off the alcohol a bit.

add the basil, simmer for a little - allow the flavor to seep.

add the sour cream, stir well to combine

very last add the spinach, it will wilt as you serve it.

For those that don't do dairy - omit the sour cream and exchange olive oil for the butter.

But this is a good gluten free meal :)

Taiwan at a Glance

I went to Taiwan for a little less than four days. I went to attend a Single Adult conference for my church. I met a lot of AMAZING people, at fantastic food, and I left wanting to see more of Taiwan. Within 24 hours of being in Taiwan I saw people being pulled over for speeding on the freeway, rest stops with western toilets and free toilet paper, and a McDonald's menu with apple slices and a bagels with Cream Cheese. It's like another world across the Formosa Strait. I met people that knew about Minneapolis because of the Minnesota Twins baseball team!! As I participated in the Conference I met people of fantastic faith, and I strengthened my own determination to life righteous principles.
Along with me assigned team I engaged in a service project, cleaning at an experimental school. As I spent time in the surroundings, I realized the difficulties that many of the students their must face. How they are highly dependent on others to engage in rudimentary activities. It helped put into sharp focus that I am not really different from them, I too depend on many people(many unknown) to meet my families' needs and my own. Our world is so connected. The more independent and metropolitan we are...actually the more dependent and helpless we are in times of crisis. When cities loose electricity or become isolated due to weather or any other catastrophe it is painfully obvious how dependent and useless many of the "modern conveniences" are without electricity or access to clean water. I love that we need to engage in serving our neighbors, whoever they are to truly learn their worth and our own. Only by truly giving do we receive.

When I was in Taiwan, I was able to spend time with people that are of the same faith. This not only gave me renewed strength and love for my God, but a stronger desire to serve those around me and be a better example. Many find the life choices I make weird, unnecessary or old fashioned. But I can say without a doubt that they make me happier and freer from mortal vices. Sharing my testimony with new friends, and learning more about the unique struggles that people of Taiwanese and Chinese heritage have while trying to live the Gospel gave me a greater understanding of the place I live and of the difficulties that face come from our own culture and those that we love.

While in Taiwan I ate some amazing things.  I went to a small night market but had some great things.  There is this egg seafood sort of omelet above.  And to the right is a fish cake soup.  I still don't know exactly what was in this soup.  I asked, but I by that point in the evening I had stopped asking for clarification when I didn't understand and just nodded my head knowingly and joyfully spooned myself some soup and omelet.

As a die hard fan of stinky tofu, I had been told a great deal about the superiority of Taiwan's Stinky Tofu.  On a fateful Saturday evening at a small night market in LuGang, I learned why it is famous.  Stinky Tofu(pictured above right) is deep fried in smaller pieces than in Hong Kong, and served with a cabbage salad on top with the traditional tomato/vinegar slightly spicy sauce that it is served with via impaled sticks in Hong Kong. Above left is a photo of the booth that I bought different types of Cow Tongue Cookies at...don't worry the cookies don't actually have cow tongue in them.  They are just vaguely shaped like cow's tongue.  (btw, if you are open-minded enough cow tongue is actually pretty good when prepared well).  Well, hopefully I will make it back to Taiwan soon, especially since now...HK stinky tofu just makes me miss Taiwan even more.

Back to Seoul

The beginning of October I went back to Seoul, South Korea. I stayed with my friend Min, and we had a lovely time. Min always gives me great insights into my character and kindly helps me move toward improvement(I love you Min-Jung!)

The second time in Seoul, I felt at ease using the transport system and finding places I had been to before. I also traveled to Seoul with my good friend Letizia from Shenzhen, we met our friend and former schoolmate Suly Lee on her home turf and she made sure we had a ROCKIN time. We had a picnic in Hangang Park and watched a fireworks display, ate raw fish and wriggling Octopus legs at Noryangjin fish market, danced to the fountains and music at Banpo Bridge, and indulged in the Kimchi museum. Seoul is a city that is extremely bike friendly. I REALLY like that about it, I was sorely tempted to buy a bike in Seoul and bring it back with me, however - that would probably be a silly decision(even though there were SUPER cool bikes there). I enjoyed the early Autumn air and the ability to wear a jacket and scarf most days. I also ate meat. I ate A LOT of MEAT. For those of you that don't know Koreans know how to cook MEAT, and I definitely took advantage of that.

The BEST thing I have eaten in Asia aside from Tim Hou Wan Dim Sum, would have to be Pumpkin Duck. My high school friends from Kansas, took me and some others to a famous place north of Seoul, they only serve one dish.

It is duck meat cooked inside a pumpkin. It is eaten with a variety of Korean side dishes and it is HEAVENLY. I would go back to Korea just for this dish. I am not joking, I am completely serious. If I didn't absolutely dislike teaching English, I would move to Korea quick quick and live there in happiness with my friend Min :) However, I do absolutely dislike teaching English and I currently am quite happy to live in China, even though at times it is difficult and frustrating, I absolutely love my life. I will embed some videos here as well, the first is of the octopus legs that we ate, I LOVE these, I had them the first time I went to Korea and they were AWESOME. So I'm really glad to have had them again. The second is Leti eating the octopus for the first time. The third is me at Banpo Bridge, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banpo_Bridge. It is famous, read up.

Autumn...kind of

so I know it has been another 5 months since my last post....shameful I know. I have traveled China a bit more. I was in another city for 7 weeks at an internship that bored me to sobs(even though the people were excellent and I really learned a lot), and I have started school again. At the end of my spring semester I did a little traveling with a lovely pal named Laura from church. We went to Xi'an and saw the terracotta warriors, we went to the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, and I revisited Beijing and saw more that I hadn't seen last time, and some that I had. Xi'an is an interesting interior city, large and growing - developing at China-speed. However it is still experiencing many of the growing pains that all other areas of China seem to be struggling with.

The Shaolin Temple is actually one of the more interesting Buddhist Temples I have been to since coming to Asia. I have seen MANY buddhist temples since coming here, but this one was more diverse. We even got to see a little kung fu performance. I got to see more of Beijing, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, the Great Wall again.

At the beginning of May I bought a Giant road bike(OCR3500) and I've been adding some kms to it pretty steadily this summer. I was really dedicated while I was at my internship in Guangzhou(for lack of anything else to do really) but I've slacked off a little since returning to Shenzhen. Now that school has started again and I need to budget my time better I'll have to see what I can do to adjust my schedule appropriately to make room for daily 45km rides. Here's the sunrise from Shenzhen Bay as seen on a recent ride.

too long coming

So, it has been far too long since I last posted. Chinese New Year has come and gone, I went to the Philippines, South Korea and Beijing.

Currently I'm back in school, studying my ever-lovin brains out. I just had a reading and writing exam, but I failed it miserably. At this point I've decided to focus on speaking and possibly the reading and writing will come to me later. I think I'm going to pursue a career in business so speaking is most important. Chinese is a language that is one of the hardest to learn, there are too many homonyms, it is unfortunately quite a vague language - but because of that I doubt it will ever become THE international language.
My Dad and I went to the Philippines for Chinese New Year, and it was really relaxing and lots of fun. Maybe too much Daddy - Daughter time, but it was still nice.

I went to Seoul at the end of March beginning of April to see my old bestie from high school Moon Min-Jung. It was AMAZING to see her, and it helped that we were in Seoul, possibly one of the coolest cities I've been to in Asia. Seoul has an amazing arts community and a plethora of museums and culture to see and learn about. It is absurdly easy to navigate around too, and not just the metro, the bus system as well! Not to mention two of my favorite things in abundance: Korean food and SHOPPING!!
The more Korean food I eat the more I like it. Just like the more Korean music I listen to the more I like it! (I love you Big Bang!)
I went to Beijing the end of April beginning of May for the May-Day holiday. I went with some schoolmates. One Russian girl and a Ukrainian Couple.

Although they didn't plan the trip super well, I still enjoyed it, and I got to meet up with some Beijing YSA and I got to see the BYU Chamber Orchestra and best of ALL, Amanda and Jared Cook!! Amanda and Jared are old friends from BYU Film school and now work for BYU Broadcasting and I was able to see them in Beijing that weekend and two weeks later in Guangzhou. What a treasure to see them in what has come to be "home" for me.
So summer has started again in South China, which means that pretty much if I want to sauna - I just go outside. Seriously, I live in a steam sauna climate. Try as I might, it will be pointless to straighten my hair for the next 7 months.
Until December, I'll only need a sweater in case the airconditioning is turned too cold(very uncommon).
Currently no immediate travel plans, but summer looms and I want to see more things!!
I might be scoring an internship in Hong Kong though this summer, which will mean no travel, but more exploration of the SAR and getting use out of the $30 hiking book I bought last autumn.
Too bad that time in Hong Kong won't exactly improve my Mandarin.

Worst of Both Worlds

So I discovered two fine lines under my eyes that won't go away any more.
They are here to stay.
Yeah, ok...I don't take the greatest care of my skin, especially under my eyes.
I accept this.

However, about a week ago I discovered my first wrinkle.
It's center left on my forehead.

I'm 26 and I have a wrinkle. Aren't I too young?

Fate has played a cruel trick, because although I now have a wrinkle I have also learned that said wrinkle seems to be a prime location for acne to set up shop.
Yeah, just what I need. Acne scarring on top of my wrinkle.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Talk of the Town

So, something that people can't stop talking about these days is the rise of China.
We talk about it ourselves over here in China all the time.
This past Monday I was in Hong Kong with another young American and he was bemoaning the loss of power and respect that the USA has suffered the past 10 years. I said, "all good things must come to an end, and mostly it is our fault"
Regardless as to whether you agree with me or not, the fact is that China has grown in strength and power in the past decade. It has grown rich, and it has grown proud. Not unlike the United States. And just like the United States it feels it is right about certain things and because it is powerful it can express those opinions more aggressively.
I've mentioned before reasons to not fear China. China's economic standing is strong currently but it is on shaky ground. This is a great piece from Hong Kong's largest english language daily to help describe the situation: http://topics.scmp.com/news/china-business-watch/article/Todays-miracle-tomorrows-crisis
There was an issue of the Economist this past autumn that had a few articles on how India's growth is going to outpace China's. I very much agree with this, http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2010/10/13/ahead-of-the-curve-%E2%80%93-indias-growth-to-outpace-chinas.html a commentary on the issue as a whole.
India is a democracy, and therefore seems less scary to the West because it has copyright law that is better enforced than in China. India's university system is also producing more qualified and dynamic graduates than China's. We really shouldn't have a reason to be afraid, other than that their innovation industry is very dynamic and will overtake ours quickly, especially in regards to developing products and solutions for the developing world. Hopefully India won't so much overtake us, as become a healthy competitor in innovation.
Either way, competition and challenge are healthy. Isn't that what we believe as capitalists? We don't believe in monopoly of business, so why believe in a monopoly of economic and political power.
I know that this seems naive and overly idealistic. But believe me,
I'm not naive.

Can't Sleep

So I realized that this time a year ago I was debating taking up skiing or snowboarding.
A few weeks later I decided instead to move to China.
I didn't even realize that I needed a change so badly. Not that a desire to take up expensive winter sports is a sign that your life is boring. But for someone like me that enjoys cheap thrills, it should have been a a flashing Vegas style sign that I was not being challenged enough. Not that learning how to gut and fillet fish on your weekends isn't fulfilling, but I needed something altogether challenging. When I'm a little scared each time I walk out the door that something isn't going to go according to plan(because it usually doesn't).
I'm really glad I decided to buy a plane ticket instead of a snowboard. I think it suits me better.
Because I think everyone can tell you, I fall down way too easily to secure both my feet rigid objects on slippery surfaces.
As for new steps...
I bought my first CD by a Chinese artist today. Han Geng 韩庚, he used to be a member of the Korean boy band Super Junior, but now he's gone SOLO, and I bought his album. So the music video for the single from this album is a little weird, but I'm just so happy that I understand like three lines of the lyrics that I don't care. Enjoy.