My attempt to be "outdoorsy"

ME = Not outdoorsy. Not athletic. I was just not brought up in a family where either was emphasized. Give my family a choice between a campground and a hotel, and they would be checking into a two double bed suite before you could say "Holiday Inn".

MM = Outdoorsy AND athletic. He loves camping, wakeboarding, snowboarding...and naturally he wants me to love all that too. So for our first vacation of 2011, he wanted to head out to Salt Lake City, UT to visit some family and snowboard.

UM, strapping my feet into a board that will barrel down the side of a mountain at frightening speeds with little to no bodily protection? NO SCHPANK YOU. My cousin had tried to teach me to snowboard a couple seasons ago, with little success. I inched my way down the bunny hill while little 5 year olds whizzed past me.

My cousins and sisters and I in front of the bunny hill @ Cypress in BC

MM, being the A-class guy he is, decided he would take me on a couple trial runs up in Wisconsin in attempt to teach me how to snowboard. So in the past two weeks, I have been to Wilmot Mountain and Alpine Valley Resort to learn how to link my turns and not faceplant in the snow before heading out to the big boy hills in Utah.

Speaking of faceplanting (which, not gonna lie, I did a LOT of), WHY THE FRACK IS SNOW SO HARD?? Where are all those fluffy snowbanks I remembered as a kid?? I might as well have been falling on concrete. And I definitely have the bruises to show for it.

I apologize for subjecting you to my pale-ass leg, but OUCH.

The worst part is, it's not even cool to be all bruised up. They're not like battle scars or anything. They just mean I'm still bad. *sigh*

At this point I'll just be happy if I can not fall off the ski lift at least 60% of the time.

Easy peasy curry

Don't you hate it when someone blogs a recipe, and you're like "Wow, that sounds really good!", but then you look through the ingredient list and there's one random thing that you can pretty much guarantee is not in your pantry?

Well I am going to do that to you today.

But if you love curry, and you don't have time to cook, this is a LIFESAVER. It's so easy, you could make this on a weekday, after coming home late, and with a hungry boyfriend waiting eagerly for dinner. Oh yes. All you need is whatever you have in the fridge/pantry, and this:

S&B Golden Curry

S&B Golden Curry sauce mix comes in four difference degrees of spice. MM and I like to live on the edge, so we bought Extra Hot.

It's so easy to use, I didn't even bother taking pictures. I ended up dicing up some skinless boneless chicken breast (but you can use any meat, or no meat at all!), some carrots, onion, potato, and throwing it all in a big pot of boiling water. After the potatoes and carrots had softened, and the chicken was cooked (this took about 10 minutes), I removed the pot from heat and threw in the sauce mix.

This particular sauce mix comes in a solid cube that is easily breakable into 4 pieces, with 2 cubes per package. The directions say to use 6 quarts of water for each cube, but I just estimated, and ended up boiling off a little more water because my curry was too thin. They also said to brown the meat before throwing it in. PAH! I bite my thumb at directions!

After stirring for 5 minutes or so, I was done! Just spoon your curry over rice and VOILA! A one pot meal. (As the household dishwasher, that is very much appreciated.) Unless you count the rice. But I don't.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

YUM!

For two busy curry lovers, this is perfect! (Curry snobs...probably not.) Bonus: it makes a HUGE amount of curry. MM and I ate this for 3 meals, and I had an extra serving for lunch!

Light posting

Posting will be light (AKA nonexistent) this week, as I have a couple big things coming up.

First, a big presentation for my Radiology rotation. I have to pretend to know how to read brain MRIs and CTs, and the head of the radiology department has to pretend to be interested. Fun.

Second, a medical licensing exam. I pay $1000 for actors to pretend they are sick and judge me for my ability to speak English and not be a complete moron. SO FUN.

When I return, I hope to be less sarcastic. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Minority talk from a former Republican senator

Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator who is considered to be a potential GOP presidential challenger to Obama in 2012,  says it is surprising that Obama does not oppose abortion rights (double negatives, my specialty).

[Source] So this is mostly unrelated, but when Google-searching Santorum, the first page of results featured a picture of him as Hitler.

According to the NPR article, Santorum compares the battle to obtain civil rights for unborn fetuses (redundancy, another one of my specialties) to the one fought by African Americans in the 1950s.

I'm sorry, did he just compare black people to fetuses?

I don't really know how, but I'm sure that has to be racist.

Celebrity dopplegangers

In honor of the recent news that Denard Robinson, University of Michigan's starting quarterback, is staying on for another season, I have decided to share a maybe-embarrassing story with you.

MM, who is thrilled (or at least, not displeased) that Robinson is staying, and I were having a conversation about the Michigan QB a while ago, and I mentioned that I thought he looked like Lil Wayne.

"That is a huge insult to Denard!" MM had protested.

Now whether or not that is true, or whether or not you think I am incredibly racist (what? It's not like I said he looked like Will Smith or anything...), let's look at the facts AKA pictures.

source, source

Am I right? Yes?? MM says he doesn't see it, but I think he is just protecting his dear QB from looking like an ugly rapper (no offense Lil Wayne).

Any dopplegangers you see but others don't? Or even better, do YOU have a celebrity doppleganger?

Chinese superstitions

So yesterday I posted about eyebrow threading. This would mortify my father. Not only because I am sharing with the whole interwebs my *ahem* very personal [/sarcasm] grooming habits, but because he hates the idea of plucking eyebrows. He, in fact, was so adamant about my younger sisters and I NOT tweezing, that he said it was bad luck in Chinese culture to remove your facial hair.

Pssshht, yeah. This was the general response from me and my sisters, and I'm pretty sure all three of us employ some sort of hair removal technique on a routine basis at this point. But it did get me thinking about the other crazy superstitions held by Chinese people, my parents included. Let's start by the ideas that my parents, particularly my dad, have drilled into my sisters and me throughout our lives.

Things my dad says will bring you bad luck in Chinese culture:

1. The number 4: In most (if not all) Chinese dialects, the word for "4" sounds remarkably like the word for "death". So naturally 4 = DEATH. Makes sense, huh?
2. Sweeping the house on Chinese New Year (CNY) Day:  Because you will "sweep" away all the good luck. (my thought was always: "But won't it sweep out the bad luck too?")
3. Washing your hair on CNY Day: Again, because you will "wash" away all the good luck. So stay away from all Chinese people on Chinese New Year. They be smelly.
4. Having unpaid debts on CNY: If you have debt on Day 1, you will likely have debt the rest of the year. This has actually motivated me to pay off all my credit cards by Chinese New Year every year. I wonder if $200,000 in student loans count...
5. Crying on CNY: Because if you cry on Day 1, you will likely cry the rest of the year. This is the one day all the parents are supposed to put up with their bratty kids, and not spank or punish them. Lucky kids.
6. Talk about deceased people after dark: Because it will disturb their spirits. Or bring ghosts. Or both. I can't remember.
7. Getting a clock for your birthday: Because the word for clock in Chinese also sounds like the word for death. (A lot of words sound like death, apparently.) So clock = death. But only on your birthday. I assume other days are okay.

Man, that's a lot of stuff. Alternatively, there are ways to change your luck if you've committed any of the above atrocities. Observe:

Things my dad says will bring you good luck in Chinese culture:

1. The number 8: The Chinese word for 8 sounds like the Chinese word for prosperity. So 8 = prosperity. Savvy?
2. Long noodles on your birthday: The longer the noodle, the better, because the length of the noodle represents the length of your life. Long noodle=long life. So no penne or farfalle on your bday, mmmkay? (This may be the day to go visit the noodle shops in China that make a whole bowl of noodles from one continuous noodle.)

Hmmm, that's all I can remember for now. Lots more stuff can bring you down, I guess.

Here are some other superstitions that I found around the web:
-A house facing North will bring bad luck to the family living there (sucks for 1/4 of the building)
-Clipping toe or finger nails at night will bring ghosts (and may result in uneven nails)
-It one keeps a turtle as a pet, it will ruin his business
-If a dog howls for a few hours in late night, it means someone died somewhere
[Source]

So what have we taken away from this? Eight is good, four is bad, Chinese people smell on New Year's, no turtles, always face South, and someone is always dying somewhere (HEY, it's TRUE!!!).
Funnily enough, nothing about eyebrows. Hear that dad? We can tweeze all we want!!

Are there any strange Chinese superstitions I missed? Any weird beliefs in your family/culture?

How shall I groom thee, eyebrows? Let me count the ways...

I'm sure there are others out there who can sympathize with me--I have the worst combination for eyebrows. They are 1) sparse, and 2) not well shaped. This generally involves me having to 1) fill them in everyday, and 2) pluck.

An old rare picture of me without makeup. Where are my eyebrows??

I hate plucking. It hurts, and it leaves my brow red for at least an hour (sensitive skin much?). Worst of all, it never seems to last very long. I refuse to wax, because um, hot wax near my eyeballs? NO SCHPANK YOU. My other alternative is threading. Not familiar?

It is apparently an ancient Indian technique that involves using thread (as in the kind you sew with) to remove lines or hair or individual hairs from the brow. It looks kind of cool, and far less painful than either waxing or plucking. AND in most salons, it will only run about $10-15.

Source

Concerns? It seems like it removes the hair at the surface of the skin, akin to shaving. Which makes me wonder how often you would have to get your eyebrows threaded...$10 isn't a lot, but it sure could add up. There are also video tutorials demonstrating home threading, but I don't trust myself that much. I'd likely take all my eyelashes out accidentally.

Has anyone tried threading before? Thoughts?

On a cold day

..there's nothing better than a hot grilled cheese on homemade bread with some tomato soup.

Stay warm!

Asians in the mainstream

Growing up, there were not a whole lot of Asians on tv or in magazines. We had Lucy Liu, and that was about it.

I still love you, Lucy (source)

There was no one to emulate for hairstyles, for makeup...it's no wonder I spent the better part of my childhood wishing I were blond. (I actually realized this childhood wish sometime in college...but that's another story.)

Recently, however, there has been a genesis of eastern features into the limelight, especially on the modeling front. I first noticed it in my daily Victoria's Secret catalog (for some reason, they think that if they send me not one, but TWO catalogs in the mail everyday that I will be more inclined to buy fancy underwear) with Jarah Mariano.

Source

I did a double take when I saw this East Asian model trying to sell me underwear. Granted, she's only part Asian, mixed with other ethnicities more known for churning out models, like French, Italian, etc. But it's a start!

Then there was the introduction of several Chinese, Korean and Japanese models in the December 2010 edition of the famed fashion epitome, Vogue. (Sidenote: the one with Angelina Jolie on the cover--doesn't she look fab??) In their spread "Asia Major", Vogue exposes the newfound interest in exotic looking beauties from the east.

Source

Source

Despite the controversy this article spurred regarding what was perceived as a callous lumping together of all East Asian models, I think it's fantastic that such different features are finally being accepted on a mainstream platform. Click here to read the Vogue article.

The newest addition to this influx of Asians is the new face of Louis Vuitton's 2011 menswear ad campaign, Godfrey Gao.

Source

Unlike the female models in the Vogue spread, Gao's Asian features are not played up as much, and upon cursory glance, he appears as well groomed and metrosexual as any other man with a Louis Vuitton manbag ("It's a European carry-all!!!").

While I am definitely not attracted to Asian men (they remind me of my dad--that may be TMI), I think Gao looks great and fits in perfectly with mainstream models. To me, it's less about him being Asian, and more about him having that typical plastic, hollowed out model stare. (Blue steel?)

What do you think of Gao and this new Asian assault on mainstream media?
[Inspiration article]

I make-uh zee bread

I am the grocery shopper in this household. If I left it up to MM, the only thing in this apartment would be beer and frozen pizza. So this week, when I forgot to buy bread, we naturally...ran out of bread. This may not sound like a problem, but in our house this is a OMG-DISASTER-PANIC-MODE-INEEDCARBS time.

So I decided to make bread.

"But DocFrock, why don't you just spend 20 minutes and buy a 99 cent loaf of bread at the store instead of spending 4 hours slaving away over experimental dough?" You ask.


Because I had the ingredients and I will save 99 cents today, so shut up. (More on my trial budget later.)

I decided to make a crusty french boule, courtesy of Vanilla and Lace. I had made this once before, but with the recipe originally intended for those with stand mixers, my first trial did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Hence, no pictures. So here we go (again): Take 2.

Please follow the above link for much better pictures and instructions. Stay here if you want the college-student-esque version in which I only own one mixing bowl and no stand mixer. Again, you have been warned.

You will need:
4 cups bread flour (3 3/4 for the bread, 1/4 for kneading)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Last time, I tried making a water well in my dry ingredients and dumping the dry yeast in, but as that batch was just short of a FAILURE, I decided to activate my yeast first in the lukewarm water.

While allowing the yeast to double in size in the warm water (this took about ten minutes), mix 3 3/4 cups of bread flour and 2 tsp of salt in a large mixing bowl, forming a well in the center. Once yeast has activated, pour yeast mixture into said well.

My sad destroyed little well

Mix ingredients together until you have a nice doughy mass. The original author did not have to use any additional flour or water, but I found that my dough was a little dry, so I ended up using an extra 6 tsp of water for my dough. All in all, this should have taken about 7 minutes.

Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
Next, lightly flour a CLEAN countertop with the 1/4 cup of reserved bread flour, and knead dough for 3 minutes. You may not need to use all of the 1/4 cup (I ended up only using about 3 Tbsp). You should end up with a nice smooth satiny ball of dough.

Place your beautiful satin dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl (or in my case, a pot, since like I said I only have one mixing bowl). Turn the ball around in the bowl to coat the dough with oil, then cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel and allow the dough to rest for 1 1/2 hours.
Use this time to clean out your oven, because you were too lazy to wipe it down even after you put it on self-clean all day yesterday. Try not to make too much noise for fear of waking up your boyfriend who just got home from a 12 hour overnight shift. Fail miserably. 
At this point, your dough should have doubled in size.

Take your monster dough and punch it down, reforming a ball. Return to bowl, cover, and allow to rest for another 30 minutes.After this second rest, place your dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 2 pieces, tucking all your ugly ends underneath to form 2 smooth boules. Cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rest on the floured surface for another 45 minutes to an hour.

At some point during this rest, preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, with a baking rack on the bottom third of the oven, along with a baking stone (HA, I don't even have a stand mixer--a baking stone???) or an upside down baking sheet (or in my case, a pizza pan because I don't have a big enough baking sheet) in the oven to warm up. Because my bread looked rather anemic the first time around, I put the rack in the middle of the oven. I'm such a rebel.

Right before you put your 2 lovely boules in the oven to bake, make 2 slashes on top with a sharp knife to allow the bread to expand in the oven.

Do NOT make your slashes this deep--my loaves look like that scene from Alien. I keep expecting a mutant head to pop out from the center

Remove your hot baking sheet from the oven, place your bread on top, and return to the baking rack.Next, to create steam. Take 1/4 cup of water, open the oven door, and pour water onto the bottom, and quickly close the oven door. Wait 2 minutes and repeat. (Note: I suck at creating steam. I have the reflexes of...something really slow.)

Bake for 20-25 minutes. If you insert a thermometer, it should read between 190 and 210 degrees F. Or you can just trust that 25 minutes will do it. Your bread should be a gorgeous golden shade, unlike my first albino batch.

Allow your bread to cool, then enjoy!!
(This batch turned out loads better than my first.)

Have you ever tried making bread before? If you have a favorite recipe, link it in the comments!

New year, new blog.

Same boring life. HA!

I've been away from the blogging world for a long time, with no real inspiration to write anything for a loooonng time. This isn't to say I've been too far away--I still follow tons of bloggers (bookmark list is 20 and growing), and one day as I was clicking "Refresh" on one of my favorite blogs, I thought, "Hey, I could do this again." And so here it is.

TAKE 2.

I'm in a pretty awesome time of my life right now. In the last year of medical school, I'm set to graduate this June (thank effing goodness; I've been in school forEVER), and my schedule is super relaxed. With all my free time in the next six months, I plan to whip my life into the best shape it's ever been in! Look forward to posts regarding my adventures in cooking, baking, budgeting, dieting, exercising (HAHAHA), and just general fun! Said adventures will likely include my boyfriend, a first year emergency medicine intern with tons of University of Michigan pride. He will thusly be referred to as Michigan Man, MM for short.

So yay! Get ready for my boring life! (You've been warned)

MM and I on our roadtrip up the PCH