It has been awhile

Dear Lord,
It has been awhile since my last post. Looks like it was just a couple of months before Phil and I got married. I think among all the busyness and chaos I've lost touch with a lot of things. I really can't believe how much has happened since I last wrote on here. Marriage to Phil, my dad's diagnosis with cancer, BJ being born, my dad passing away, Joy being born. It feels like ages ago when I still had time to do some analysis of myself.
But recently read the latest Ann Voskamp book and really liked some of what she says. Something along the lines of life is too short to want to be like someone else (to quote her: Your time is limited so don't limit your life by wanting someone else's.)
I like Ann's writing as they seem to reflect what I'd love to be able to write one day. In her latest book she says she is an "introvert feeling messy and broken and battling the edge of depression." I can totally relate.
I would like to blog at least once a week from now on, it will probably end up being once a month but hey a lot more than I have done before.
lot's of love,
Linda

Prayer journal

AKA the times that I know God made known His presence to me:
Being at CVS and they played Brandon Heath's Your Love
Being stranded at an airport but the lady who was a fellow believer who sat in the same aisle offering to let me stay at her house
Last week when I thought I was going to be stranded at the airport but God worked out everything perfectly
God trying to save me from my own foolishness

Stop and give me ten

I'm giving a talk about Thanksgiving at my christian fellowship and saw a blog post from June Hunt from Women of Faith. She talked about how when she gets into the complaining mood, her manager tells her to stop and give her ten, that is ten things that she's thankful for. So this morning I'm extremely tired and annoyed and thought I'd do that.
1. God for his grace and forgiveness
2. God for his unconditional love
3. God for bringing my fiance into my life
4. That I have a wedding coming up
5. That I've survived in this university for so long
6. That I have a loving family
7. That I woke up and was able to get out of bed this morning
8. For the sunshine this morning
9. For being able to write this post
10. I'm about to give this talk

Diary of a desperate doctoral student - part 1

My journey into writing my dissertation
10/9/2014 Thursday - It's Fall break, yeah, what break?
3:05 Had a meeting with Pete the learning center tutor who told me tha tno
one else will want me to get the dissertation done and that I needed at
least 4 hours every day 5 days a week in order to get it done. He told me
to treat it like a job.

10/13/2014 - Monday, it's Columbus day, good thing our university doesn't
really celebrate this but people somewhat take the day off anyways.

6:00 My alarm rings and I'm hitting the snooze button like crazy. Dear
Lord please get me up.

7:39 I'm finally up and taking a much needed shower.

9:05 Dear Lord, thanks for getting me up, now why did I miss that bus?

9:50 Finally sitting at the computer

11:17 Dear Lord, it's only been like an hour. I turned off my phone and
only going onto the internet for research purposes. This is like an
intense exercise on self-control, which I don't have. It's like self-imposed torture.

11:23 Ok, got to continue reaing this article. Maybe I'll go for a water
break. Can I take a lunch break soon?

11:40 Thanks God. Air1 just tells me that the snooze button is making me
lose sleep and less productive because of REM cycle, I'm not actually going back to sleep but just losing more hours. So actually just set it up for when I have to wake up and not hit the snooze button and just get up. Thanks God for that little hint. Please let me run the race for you Lord. Make me more like you.

12:12 - air1.com/hope thanks so much for letting me know that this decision to work at least 4 hours everyday. Alright, only 2 more hours to go.

12:33 - wow, I'm like the queen of procrastination. Who knew my glasses needed so much cleaning? Ok, stomach is really growling, need to go take a food break now.

His Story

I think I often write these blogs when I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed, which is currently true.

But I walked over to school today to get my TA course website up since school starts in 1 week. Anyhow and noticed the signs that said: "Start your Penn story today" and I thought to myself, this seems like a never-ending story to me...but then thought that I'd rather be part of God's story.

It's hard to realize that this is the end of summer, the start of fall and so many things are coming at me. But I realize that I've been getting bitter at people and not producing the fruit of the spirit. I don't want my roots to be bitter, I want to offer to God a sweet aroma but not quite sure how to do that because I'm still frustrated with people, often times I don't see them the way that God sees them. I know I constantly pray for God to change my heart but I'm not sure if that's happening...

I really liked the following story though....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Streams in the Desert

As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Sorrow was beautiful, but her beauty was the beauty of the moonlight shining through the leafy branches of the trees in the wood, and making little pools of silver here and there on the soft green moss below. When Sorrow sang, her notes were like the low sweet call of the nightingale, and in her eyes was the unexpectant gaze of one who has ceased to look for coming gladness. She could weep in tender sympathy with those who weep, but to rejoice with those who rejoice was unknown to her.

Joy was beautiful, too, but his was the radiant beauty of the summer morning. His eyes still held the glad laughter of childhood, and his hair had the glint of the sunshine's kiss. When Joy sang his voice soared upward as the lark's, and his step was the step of a conqueror who has never known defeat. He could rejoice with all who rejoice, but to weep with those who weep was unknown to him.

"But we can never be united," said Sorrow wistfully. "No, never." And Joy's eyes shadowed as he spoke. "My path lies through the sunlit meadows, the sweetest roses bloom for my gathering, and the blackbirds and thrushes await my coming to pour forth their most joyous lays."

"My path," said Sorrow, turning slowly away, "leads through the darkening woods, with moon-flowers only shall my hands be filled. Yet the sweetest of all earth-songs--the love song of the night--shall be mine; farewell, Joy, farewell."

Even as she spoke they became conscious of a form standing beside them; dimly seen, but of a Kingly Presence, and a great and holy awe stole over them as they sank on their knees before Him.

"I see Him as the King of Joy," whispered Sorrow, "for on His Head are many crowns, and the nailprints in His hands and feet are the scars of a great victory. Before Him all my sorrow is melting away into deathless love and gladness, and I give myself to Him forever."

"Nay, Sorrow," said Joy softly, "but I see Him as the King of Sorrow, and the crown on His head is a crown of thorns, and the nailprints in His hands and feet are the scars of a great agony. I, too, give myself to Him forever, for sorrow with Him must be sweeter than any joy that I have known."

"Then we are one in Him," they cried in gladness, "for none but He could unite Joy and Sorrow." Hand in hand they passed out into the world to follow Him through storm and sunshine, in the bleakness of winter cold and the warmth of summer gladness, "as sorrowful yet always rejoicing."

Should Sorrow lay her hand upon thy shoulder,

And walk with thee in silence on life's way,

While Joy, thy bright companion once, grown colder,

Becomes to thee more distant day by day?

Shrink not from the companionship of Sorrow,

She is the messenger of God to thee;

And thou wilt thank Him in His great tomorrow

For what thou knowest not now, thou then shalt see;

She is God's angel, clad in weeds of night,

With 'whom we walk by faith and not by sight.'

New recipes to try out and ones already tried out

These looked really interesting so just adding them in:
http://www.allfood.recipes/magic-cake-recipe/

Tried this two awhile ago and both were pretty good:
http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/recipe/desserts/peach-berry-frozen-dessert
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Janets-Rich-Banana-Bread/Detail.aspx

This one looks a bit more difficult so not sure when I'll get to try it out:
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2012/08/recipe-for-julia-childs-eggplant-pizzas.html

Knitting 101 - helpful hints - aka what not to do

Basically I've been trying to make this scarf for my mother for the past 2 or 3 years by now. Mostly because the first time I tried to do it, I accidentally kept on increasing the knitting counts every time I started a new row so by about the 20th row it look more like a slice of pizza rather than a wearable scarf >_<

I think I'm finally going to have a set time for everyday to do it so I apparently have to get back into it every time so I'm just going to put the links I usually review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONVQCK_-rKc

http://knitting.about.com/od/troubleshooting/qt/How-Not-To-Start-New-Row-Knitting.htm

Cast on and bind off videos coming soon

Follow up to green tea ice cream - almond milk variations

Just a follow up to my previous recipe that I made a variation of:

This recipe is from: http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/green-tea-ice-cream-matcha-ice-cream/

Here are the variations I did to do quart sized servings
Ingredients
1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp matcha (green tea) powder
pinch of sea salt

Prep:
Get your ice cream machine ready (put the bowl into freezer for at least 24 hours)
Whisk the milk, sugar, matcha powder and salt in saucepan.
Heat the mixture til it is hot but not boiling.
Put it into refrigerator (about 2-3 hours)
Put mixture into your ice cream machine (churn 20-30 minutes)
Freezer for at least 12 hours

So I did a batch with the half and half (on the left) from the original recipe and then the one with the almond and coconut milk (on the right) for comparison. In terms of color, the almond variation came out a bit dark and definitely not as creamy. In terms of taste, the almond definitely had more of a nutty taste which was really not bad and the two didn't taste too different. 

If you're interested here's a good blog post about making ice cream with almond milk:
http://makingoursustainablelife.com/almond-milk-ice-cream

Merry Christmas - adding in books

I'm noticing how I have all these ebooks of Christian books and some of them are pretty similar so being a grad student, I really wanted to do some reviews and summaries and comparisons.

We'll start with these three:

Radical: Taking back your faith from the American dream - by David Platt

I got this book at Urbana Conference 2012 where David Platt was a speaker. He signed with D.P and Psalm 67 when I told him about God's plan for my life.

Not a Fan: Becoming a completely committed follower of Jesus - by Kyle Idleman

I got the ebook form of this for free from becoming a connection member at Women of Faith's website. I loved going to WoF's conference in Philadelphia this past year, you can really feel the Holy Spirit moving in these women's testimonies and I cried and laughed through the whole thing. I actually meant to pick this up awhile ago when I keep on seeing on christianbook.com

All In: You are one decision away from a totally different life - by Mark Batterson

I got the shorter excerpt of this book, Going All In, for free from connection at Women of Faith's website but decided to get the book after reading through the short excerpt.

Anyhow, we'll see how this goes.

Cooking for 20

So I'm going to attempt to cook for around 20 people for my small group Bible study this upcoming Tuesday. Here are the recipes that I'll be using:

Ham on bone (in oven)
http://howto.yellow.co.nz/food-drink/cooking-and-baking/how-to-cook-ham-on-the-bone/

Corned beef and vegetables (slow cooker)
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-corned-beef-and-cabbage/?scale=16&ismetric=0

Pulled pork - from shoulder meat (slow cooker)
http://www.chow.com/recipes/30356-easy-slow-cooker-pulled-pork

Will upload photos and what additions and tweaks that I used later.

Making baked chicken

This site apparently claims the world's best chicken
http://dashingdish.com/recipe/the-worlds-best-baked-chicken/

Alternatively there's also the Asian baked chicken:
http://www.chow.com/recipes/30350-asian-marinated-baked-chicken

1 lb	Boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 medium size chicken breasts)
1/2 cup	Plain low fat Greek yogurt
3 tbs	Grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp	Garlic, chopped (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp	Dried minced onions (or 1/2 tsp onion powder)
Pinch	Salt and Pepper
1 tsp	Dried herb mix (such as Mrs. Dash) or dried parsley

Pork with noodles and yummy green beans

So tried impromptu cooking the other day (like a week ago).

Here are the ingredients that I had:

Onions & garlic
Can of pineapple
Lots of pork chops
Frozen green beans
Noodles

So basically here are the things that came out:

This was just the pork chops with green beans. I marinated the pork chops for around 2 hours though and it came out taste great :)

This was the noodles that I cooked next. I think the pineapples were an after thought but actually it did taste pretty good :)

A tale of traditional Chinese dishes

Yesterday was cooking for a friend. Sadly, these aren't quite worthy of photos just yet. Willl post when I make them again:

These are the dishes that you will usually not find in the American-Chinese stories. Despite what we say, no General Tso's chicken does not exist in China.

Chicken Congee

http://www.chinese-traditional-food.com/chicken-congee.html

Ingredients:
100g lean chicken (1 piece, do not slice/chop)
1 scallion (finely chopped)
2 shiitake mushrooms (soak in water and sliced finely)
1 small piece of ginger (sliced finely)
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1.5 cups rice
Salt to taste
Sesame oil to taste


1. Cook the rice into congee for 1 hour. Make sure the water do not dry out, keep adding water when the water is running out.

2. Cook the rice until it was fully soften and then add in the salt to taste.

3. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water and cook the lean chicken. Use a fork to poke through the chicken, if so then it is fully cooked.

4. Tear the chicken into slices by using your bare hand. It will not look nice if you use knife or scissor

5. Boiled the shiitake mushrooms until it was fully cooked for 30 minutes.

6. Heat up the oil and stir fry the garlic until it turn golden brown.

7. When the rice fully turn into congee, fill up a bowl. Mix in the chicken, shiitake mushrooms and garnish it with ginger, garlic and scallion.

8. Add some sesame oil with give you some aromatic fragrance.


This is usually a breakfast food. I used to remember eating this and being really comforted when I had an upset stomach or anything of that nature. It's very soothing.

Zha Jiang Mian

http://www.beijing-kids.com/blog/ellisf/2013/06/09/Do-Try-This-At-Home-Zha-Jiang-Mian

In a bowl, pour out the contents of one packet each of tian mian jiang and huang jiang. Add 6 tablespoons of water, mix well until free from lumps. Set aside. In a frying pan, heat up 2 tablespoons of oil, sauté some chopped shallots and 50 grams of ground pork or shredded chicken.

When meat is brown, add the sauce mixture, 1 tablespoon of sugar and a dash of pepper and mix well together. Let simmer on low heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. If the sauce starts to dry out, add more water a spoonful at a time. Maintain a thick consistency, the sauce should not be runny.

Meanwhile, boil the noodles the same way you would cook spaghetti. Bring half a liter of lightly-salted water to a boil, add a teaspoon of oil, then place 200 grams of noodles for two minutes. Bring the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another six minutes. Check that the noodles are cooked throughy, and when they are, drain the noodles and rinse in cold water. Serve noodles in individual bowls, and top with two tablespoons of the sauce. Have some cold julienned cucumbers and radishes on the side, as well as chopped spring onions. Go wild with some crushed peanuts on top.


I made this with ground beef which came out well. Definitely should have used more scallions though.

Yes, the Korean has a version of this called Jajangmyeon. This dish is actually native to the province that I come from in China which is right next to North & South Korea.

Green tea ice cream recipes

After trying several recipes I finally found a good one

Matcha powder I got from nuts.com

This recipe is from: http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/green-tea-ice-cream-matcha-ice-cream/

Here's what I did to make a batch that could serve 4-6 people
Ingredients
3 cups half and half
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp matcha (green tea) powder
pinch of salf

 Prep:
Get your ice cream machine ready (put the bowl into freezer)
Whisk the half hafl, sugar, matcha powder and salt in saucepan.
Heat the mixture til it is hot but not boiling.
Put it into referigerator (about an hour)
Put mixture into your ice cream machine (churn 20-30 minutes)
Freezer for at least 12 hours

2 cups Half and Half, or 1 cup whole milk and 1 cup cream (Half and Half is basically a mixture of one part milk to one part cream and is sold in the US.)

½ cup sugar

3 Tbsp. 100% natural green tea powde

- See more at: http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/green-tea-ice-cream-matcha-ice-cream/#sthash.ZLrLBkli.dpuf

I also tried the following recipes:
http://koreanfood.about.com/od/snacksanddesserts/r/Green-Tea-Ice-Cream-Recipe.htm
Came out tasting a lot of egg but creamy

I should probably try this one sometimes also:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/green-tea-ice-cream-recipe/index.html

2 cups Half and Half, or 1 cup whole milk and 1 cup cream (Half and Half is basically a mixture of one part milk to one part cream and is sold in the US.)

½ cup sugar

3 Tbsp. 100% natural green tea powder (matcha powder)

Pinch of salt

- See more at: http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/green-tea-ice-cream-matcha-ice-cream/#sthash.ZLrLBkli.dpuf

Curry chicken

Originally the recipe calls for sweet potatoes with vermicelli but I lef them out as the previous attempts with them were a mess.

Ingredients
1 chicken
2 tbsp veg oil
1 onion finely sliced
3 garlic loves, crushed
2-3 tbsp Thai curry powder
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
2.5 cups coconut milk
12 oz dried rice vermmicelli, soaked in hot water until soft (optional)

Prep:
1. skin chicken, cut meat into small pieces
2. Heat oil in largesaucepan. Add onion and garlic and fry until onion softens.
3. Add chicken pieces and stir-fry until they change color. Stir in curry powder. Season with salft and sugar and mix thoroughly, then stir in fish sauce.
4. Pour in the concout milk and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
5. Add in starch if mixture is runny.

I made some rice and paired up this with it. It actually looked pretty good prior to adding the coconut milk. 

Curry and hot garlic beef steak with vegetables

Felt adventurous yesterday and cooked a bunch of stuff.

Had a ton of these shanghai bok choy like vegetables that I never cooked with before. Be aware, they are very bitter. However, when you cut the ends off it turns out there's God's masterpiece of a pretty flower:

I tried two different varieties, one with just the hot garlic sauce and the other with red Thai curry and curry powder.

Curry -
Used Chinese noodles
Curry powder
Onion and garlic
Beef steak cubes
Thyme
Basil leaves

Hot garlic sauce
Had pretty much the same ingredients minus the thyme and basil

Reviewing these I think the noodles tended to clump together way too much.

I definitely overcooked the vegetables. 

Pork and green beans supreme recipe

Got this recipe from a random book at the house that I'm living in.

16 oz lean pork tenderloin or steak cut into cubes
2 cups cut green beans
3 cups hot cooked noodles
10.5 oz cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp chili seasoning
1/4 tsp black pepper

Spray skillet with butter flavored cooking spray.
Brown meat, stir in green beans and noodles.
Add in the soup, milk, sour cream, chili seasoning and black pepper.
Lower heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Should serve about 6 people.

I think I unfortunately overcooked the noodles and substituted soy milk instead of skim milk but it still came out ok. I also added in a bit of onion in the brown the meat process. Here's what I had.

New life for this blog - Linda's food blog

Made some awesome food today.

Went to Cincinnati last week with my church and we went to Skyline Chili and had their 3 way which was really delicious so I really wanted to replicate it.

Feel free to substitute things. I used BBQ sauce as I had no Worcestershire sauce and didn't add cayenne pepper. The beans and olives I also didn't add as I really don't like beans nor olives. It still came out really good :)

• 
  2 pounds of ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons chili powder

• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound uncooked spaghetti
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup kidney beans
• 1/2 cup olives

Brown beef and onion in a large skillet over medium high heat. Place browned mixture in a large pot and stir in the tomato sauce, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, cinnamon, vinegar, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over low heat for 1 1/2 hours.
When meat mixture has about 20 minutes cooking time left, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and set aside.
Serve meat mixture over cooked spaghetti topped with optional cheese, beans, olives and chopped onion. 

Recipe courtesy of: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cincinnati-Skyline-Chili/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=skyline%20chili&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe

Here's how it turned out for me