Go Crazy with Kimchi

Lake shot of the day

I woke up pretty sore from these last few days of running. I looked out the window, realized that I really didn't feel like going outside today (good thing I didn't, because it turned out to be really windy), so I went down to the weight room and did my usual 40 minutes on the elliptical while looking at some stupid book on colleges... I need big books that will stay open. Boring, but at least I got to sweat some.
Breakfast was amazing, if I do say so myself. I plan on eating this amazing gingerbread until it's gone, so I need to get creative here.
Gingerbread Parfait with Caramelized Apple Chutney, Greek Yogurt, and Cashew Butter
Sounds gourmet, no?
Basically, I just layered the ingredients with a drizzle of Whole Foods raw fresh cashew butter, which I'd never had before. Very mild, but refined. Delicious, in fact, but a completely different creature from peanut butter, which is attention-seeking and hogs the spotlight.
I heated the gingerbread first. It went great with my chutney, which has proven to be versatile! My dad ate it with chicken for lunch, and, just as I predicted, it makes a nice accompaniment to meat.
Lunch: leftovers! We must clean out that fridge! More of that seitan pie (now that I think about it, it really isn't a pot pie, because the crust isn't puff pastry and there's a bottom crust), spinach and more vegetables.

And a pear.

I went to the bookstore and bought:
-A better edition of Anna Karenina
-TALES OF BEETLE THE BARD, which I've already read. And all the proceeds are going to charity! Go Rowling!
-There was a 20% off cook book sale, but I couldn't find anything I wanted! I have more than enough cookbooks, but what I really want are some good Japanese, Korean, and African (not just North African) cookbooks.

I was a little hungry later on and had a bowl of Amy's chocolate vanilla bunnies with a little GoLean Crunch, half a banana, blackberries, and soymilk.

Therefore, I wasn't too hungry for dinner, but my dad and I cooked, and I'm really glad we did. We were thinking of just having more leftovers, but we ended up incorporating leftovers into what I made, which was bibimbap! I've never made Korean food at home, but it really wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. The only difficulty was stir-frying EVERY single topping separately. (Check out the awesome peanut oil-pouring shot!)


Toppings we used:
-Carrots
-Burdock (also known as mountain yam... it looks like an extra thick, hairy, brown carrot)
-Cucumber (But only the skins, which is interesting)
-Watercress
-Instead of beef, I used some "soy chicken" from Chinatown, which is basically just tofu rolled up to look like chicken... no TVP here. I seasoned it with sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, and a little sugar.
-Leftover mung bean sprouts
-Leftover Korean zucchini seafood-pancake (literally a tiny piece)-- we used this instead of a sunny side up egg
-MUSHROOMS
-and of course, kimchi.
-AND some pear-- this really evened out the spiciness


(All mixed together)
We microwaved leftover brown rice and mixed it with chili paste and sesame oil, then topped it with the vegetables... and more chili paste.
I ate the entire bowl, minus some of the soy chicken. The carrots and burdock were the best part-- they were a little burned, almost like shoestring potatoes or something!
Mm, this is one of those meals where I just don't want a dessert because I want to remember it. To get rid of that garlicky kimchi taste, I had a tangerine.

I finished Interview with the Vampire. How come nobody told me it was so philosophical and depressing? Any slightly more cheerful vampire stories? Or just good books in general?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! FLAT TOP AND COLDSTONE

Wow, greatest Halloween I've had in a while. It seemed like my costume was going to be a disaster until the last minute.
We got together a group to go as the Clue characters. I was Miss Scarlet with the candlestick (our very very VERY obviously fake toy gun was confiscated by an obnoxious English teacher a few days ago). Should I grow my hair out again? The wig was starting to grow on me (pardon the pun).
After school, I changed out of the costume, and a few people from the swim team and I went downtown. We hung out for a while at one of our houses, sang karaoke and such, then headed over to Flat Top for dinner!
I LOVE PLACES LIKE THIS. I realize that a lot of these buffet/ all-you-can-eat places are ripoffs, since the only difference is that you see what's available, as opposed to having a closed-off kitchen, but that is definitely what makes it fun.
Our sticks:
I filled my bowl to the brim with brown rice, vegetables, and all the soy products they had (Quorn, tempeh, seitan)... I was really excited and felt like being vegan for the night for some reason.
I added a white stick for vegetarian/ allergy, and a yellow stick for vegetable soup... what bugged me is that I asked them specifically if they would turn it into soup or just give soup on the side, and they said on the side, but they turned it into soup! I definitely eat my fair share of soup at home and this didn't feel quite substantial enough. I ended up getting a second bowl of what seemed like a decent portion, but it wilted down so much when it cooked that it was really only a few bites.
Most people got noodles or flat bread, and one girl got hers as a mushu wrap.
Our coach was saintly enough to give us a day off practice for Halloween, and I really am trying to eat less on the days that I don't swim. However, they wanted to head over to Cold Stone. Because I was actually still really hungry from dinner, I was a good child and ordered a small frozen yogurt with cherries, whereas the rest of them got decadent, chocolate creations.
I was SO TEMPTED by the pumpkin ice cream (I got a taste of it), but no, I was resolute. Besides, today is my dad's birthday and we are going to have a very decadent dinner.
We went back to the house and played a childish game of 10 Fingers/ Never Have I ever... Only someone on the swim team (me) would say "Never have I ever swum anything besides breaststroke in the 200 Medley Relay."
And no, I had no candy whatsoever this Halloween! It really didn't appeal.
And PS, I am so happy this year. Freshman and Sophomore years were terrible. I love the swim team, and I love hanging out with people in different grades. Love the freshmen!

Another day, plus dinner with friends

Too. tired. to write full sentences, except to say that my camera is dead and i forgot the battery charger in China, so I'm going to post this temporarily without pictures.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with banana, trail mix, and Kashi Golean crunch, plus a little peanut butter (and cinnamon, vanilla, etc). The trail mix was Trader Joe's Decadence trail mix, which happens to have chocolate buttons and peanut butter chips in it... those are two things I would never have considered eating before, but just a few of them made the oatmeal amazing, because the chocolate and peanut butter melted into the oats in an unctious swirl.
Also had some hot apple cider with cinnamon.
I biked down to school to take my French 5 Advanced final to see if I could test into AP! It was only 3 pages, and really not that bad at all... the only parts I found hard were the passive and active voice, and it was only because I didn't understand what I was supposed to do. For example, I would have to switch "The vegetables will not be cooked in this pan" to "We (on) will not cook the vegetables in this pan." All-in-all, it went really well! I was originally supposed to do some kind of oral test afterwards, but when I asked about it, Monsieur Farver (most awesome teacher ever) said that we didn't need to, since we had been speaking in French the whole time and it didn't seem like I had any trouble. He and Mme. Collet, the 5A teacher, still need to go over my test, but he told me not to worry. SO I THINK I'M IN! YES YES YES...
I got home around 11 and was kind of hungry, and I had to eat early because swim practice was a 12:30 bike ride on the lake. I had a great salad, made with lettuce, leftover salmon and potatoes, an artichoke heart, blackberries, a scoop of whipped cottage cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette. I also had kashi crackers and the leftover pumpkin mixed with some yogurt and pumpkin pie spice, the usual.
We met at school to go biking at 12:15. We didn't end up going that far-- just to the planetarium, because some people got lost. This was due to the fact that the exit to where we were supposed to meet was closed off for construction, so people split off in totally separate directions. The exciting thing was that on the way there (I was trying to push myself without dying) I was in a close 2nd, and there was a pretty big gap between me and the 3rd person. On the way back I took it a little easier. I LOVE BIKING. The thing about swimming is that your surroundings don't change, whereas on a bike you feel so free. It was gorgeous today, even though we all thought it was going to rain-- the harbor was bright blue and the air felt so fresh.
Luckily, my house is as close to the lake as it's possible to be, so I just went straight home to start DINNER PREPARATIONS! Of course, I was starving from the workout, so I had to have a snack: a bunch of different cereals with banana, berries and soy milk. I probably eat too much cereal, but at least it's whole grain and low sugar, and better than just eating energy bars every day.

Originally, I had invited my friend Page and her mom, but her mom was too sick to get out of bed! We definitely have to have her over at some point, but I invited some of my other friends instead. Here is what we had:
Chilled cantaloupe soup with cucumber-ginger relish: I really couldn't decide if I liked the soup or not, never actually having had fruit soups. It was so intense (too much lime) that it would have been better in a shot glass, but the combo of flavors was great: the sweet melon, basil, mint, lime, spicy ginger, and cucumber. Lately cucumber seems to make me nauseous though. I couldn't finish.
Chickpeas with spinach and roasted peppers with paprika-- This was a simple, satisfying dish, but what made it good was that I used the chickpeas that Patrizia bought me from Italy-- I had to soak them all day, then parboil them, then simmer until they were tender. Until you taste real chickpeas, which aren't mushy, as opposed to canned, you have not lived. I roasted the peppers first, then sauteed an onion with basil and fennel seed, and simmered everything together with paprika and Chinese cooking wine (I didn't have sherry).






Apple cider-braised Kabocha squash-- Once again, I just can't get enough squash. The problem is that kabocha squash is IMPOSSIBLE to peel and seed-- I got quite a few injuries in the process. Still, this turned out to be my favorite dish-- then again, how can you go wrong with squash? I browned it in some olive oil, then simmered it until tender in apple cider. Strangely, the apple cider made it much too acidic, so i added a sprinkle of brown sugar. I finished it with some fresh sage.
The special California brown rice I got for my birthday-- this is the nuttiest, chewiest brown rice I've ever had. I could easily eat it by itself.
DESSERT: my mom threw together some peaches, sugar, ginger and apple cider in the oven to make a compote to go with our PEACH GINGER ICE CREAM. Unfortunately, we had to wait for more than an hour for the ice cream to soften enough to make even a dent in it with a spoon. We really should have taken it out earlier. We finally had to end up soaking the bowl in hot water, and it was still too hard. Delicious, though, although it tasted more of ginger than peaches. The peach compote also had ginger, but highlighted the peachy flavor of the ice cream. We garnished it with mint.

BROWN RICE!

It is with pleasure that I report the purchase of a package of brown rice from the supermarket. For some reason, brown rice and whole grains are hard to come by here, and every time I eat pasty, unfilling white rice I miss its nutty counterpart.
This is a healthy post. Sorry to those hot chocolate-macaroon readers. Anyway, before my swimming session (1.5 hours with a coach) today I decided maybe I should have a little snack (I ate breakfast early), so I had a Luna tea cake. Not sure what I think of them. A lot of calories in about four square inches, but that was good for what I was aiming for. As for the flavor, not bad. The one I had was vanilla macadamia.
When I came back exhausted from swimming, I found a rice cooker full of brown rice waiting! We ordered dishes from downstairs. I had tomato and egg and baby bok choy, and my parents had some kind of chicken with hot peppers, along with some plain bing/ pancakes.
After that rice I feel so fulfilled. But I am so tired. I think I'll take a nap.