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Friday, January 25, 2013

Bánh dày đỗ - bánh đỗ lộn - inside out mung bean n sticky rice balls or vietnam style mochi



Bánh dầy đỗ or bánh đỗ lộn was one of my favorite treats growing up. Officially known as bánh dày đỗ and also bánh đỗ lộn (inside out mung bean n sticky rice balls) in my hometown, these balls were often found on wedding menus and eaten at the end of the meal as desserts or sold in the local markets as snack. My mom would always get me these delicious savory balls whenever she went to the market, and I never had enough of them. Like with other Vietnamese treats, I had always thought they're very difficult to make until I gave them a try the other day. Turned out making them was very simple and what is best is they taste exactly the same as the ones I ate growing up. The following recipe of bánh dày đỗ is my own recipe that I created based on the recipe of chè trôi nước (glutinous balls in ginger syrup) and also my memory of what I ate. This recipe makes 20 balls.

Ingredients:

The filling:
1 cup mung bean shelled and soaked overnight
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil

The dough:
2 cups sweet/sticky/glutinous rice flour
1.5 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

The filling:
Wash mung bean thoroughly if you buy them already shelled and they look very yellow because chances are they have been colored. Drain the mung beans and have them steamed for around 20 minutes or until tender. Process them in a food processor until they are finely ground. Add salt and 1 tbsp oil and mix well. Divide the mixture in half and put them in two separate bowls. In one bowl, add the remaining oil and mix well, shape into 1/2 in balls.

The dough:
Add the salt to the flour and whisk well. Gradually pour in the water and use a spatula to mix well until there's no clumps and the dough starts coming together. Knead the dough for a couple minutes and let it rest for 30 minutes. Add the oil and knead for a couple more minutes, then form the dough into 1.5 or 2 in balls. Flatten the balls and put the mung bean balls into the middle, pinch the edges together.
Bring a big pot of water to a boil, add the balls and cook until they float to the surface. That's when we know they're done. Take the balls out of the pot using a strainer and put them right into a bowl of ice water. Drain the balls and roll them in the remaining mung bean until well coated.

Note: if you have a sweet tooth and want a sweet filling, then add sugar to the filling and the mung bean used for coating instead of salt. Some people also like to add shredded coconut to the filling. You might want to skip the oil as well.












Monday, January 14, 2013

Some thoughts on punishing kids

I had a talk with mom on the phone this morning and something she said about my nephew really concerned me. My nephew has, in the eye of his teacher and my brother's and sister-in-law's, been in a lot of trouble in school lately. A couple of fights with another boy and numerous times violating school regulations. Most recently, he was caught eating chocolate when the class is doing a computer test. To punish him, his teacher made him stand in front of his classmates for the rest of the test, and of course he was not allowed to complete the test. When I heard that part, I was like 'what the heck? What kind of a teacher would do that to a kid?' Does she think humiliating a kid in public would make him realize what he's done is wrong and learn to play by the rules. That's definitely wrong thinking. What is worse is my brother and sister in law seem to be upset and get mad, even punish my nephew every time they heard some bad news from the teacher about him. Both my nephew's teacher's actions and his parents' concern me deeply. I'm really worried about my nephew. Now everyone sees him as a disruptive kid while in fact, he's just a nice boy, just like any other kid who's still learning how to behave. I wish I could tell my nephew's teacher and his parents how wrong their thinking is and how negatively that's gonna affect my nephew.
Most of us adults seem to forget that our kids are still learning how to function in this world including how to behave towards people around them and have only us as their guide and support. In stead of listening to them and guiding them through the process, some of us expect them to have correct behaviors right from the beginning. If they do something wrong, we punish them. As simple as that, and we believe we've taught them to be better. No, what we taught them was mistakes are unacceptable. They will get it that when they do something wrong they'll be punished and not necessarily know why their action is wrong. If instead, my nephew's teacher let him finish the test and later on talk with him, showing him why it's not ok to eat in class, or better yet, seize that opportunity to model to all the kids the expected behavior then chances are my nephew would not feel humiliated and resent school even more.
Labeling kids is the worst thing in the world. Yet people are doing that to my nephew including his parents. Just a few school rules violation and now he's become THAT disruptive kid. By doing that, we're helping to lower the child's self-esteem, and eventually he will become truly disruptive.
Through the story of my nephew, I see how some adults rush to correct an unexpected behavior and, therefore, fail to see mistakes as opportunities to help our child to learn how to function in life. Sigh... Kids might have reasons for doing things that if we take a moment to listen to them, we'll realize that it is not as serious as it might appear, or that it's just the kid's misunderstanding of something.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

1400 calorie meal plan

http://www.einstein.edu/einsteinhealthtopic/?articleId=88545&articleTypeId=3&healthTopicid=-1&healthTopicName=HealthSheets

1200 calorie meal plan

http://www.bodyspex.com/Community.aspx?ArticleID=50

realizing new year resolutions

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ora-nadrich/new-years-resolutions_b_2365203.html

Food Fitness Articles | Fitness and Freebies

Food Fitness Articles | Fitness and Freebies

1400 calorie meal plan

 http://www.bodyspex.com/Community.aspx?ArticleID=48

1,400 Calorie Meal Plan  

How much food can you eat on a 1,400 calorie diet? Below are the recommended number of daily servings of eight basic food groups for a nutritionally balanced 1400 calorie diet plan:

1,400 Calories


< less 5 Grain servings
3 Vegetable servings
3 Fruit servings
4oz Lean Meat/Beans
2 Non-fat Dairy servings
1/2 Seeds, Nuts serving
4 Soft Oil servings
150 cals Sweets & Cheats







more >

Does 1,400 calories per day meet your weight loss goal? Check your expected weekly weight change for your gender, age range, and amount of daily moderate aerobic activity on the calorie chart below.
<1,300 1,400 calorie chart 1,500>

Important
Serving Size Info
What's
A Cheat?
Activity
Information

*The meal plan and calorie chart above is based on the 2005 Dietary Guidelines. Weekly weight change values do not take into account relevant personalized factors such as height, muscle mass and overall weight. If your height and/or weight is outside "norms" your expected weight loss or gain will vary.

Grains for Your Health | Fitness and Freebies

Grains for Your Health | Fitness and Freebies

Popcorn: A Whole-Grain Snack | Fitness and Freebies

Popcorn: A Whole-Grain Snack | Fitness and Freebies

Easy Ways to Eat More Fruit | Fitness and Freebies

Easy Ways to Eat More Fruit | Fitness and Freebies

2013 Resolutions

I'm glad that I finally get to writing down my new year resolutions. The truth is I started making new year resolutions years ago, but every other year either I don't take them seriously or they got broken as soon as they are made. This year, I'm resolved to keep my resolutions by making it less general and more realistic.

Speaking Thai again

Yesterday was the first day of my intercultural communication class. There was this Chinese guy who said in his self-introduction that he was able to speak Thai, which got me really excited thinking I had finally found someone to speak Thai with. During the break, I approached him and told him that I could speak Thai too and that he and I could become Thai speaking partners. He agreed it was a great idea, and we both started by greeting each other in Thai. On our way out of the building after class, we had more conversation in Thai in he said he was very impressed with my Thai pronunciation, which, according to him, is not very different from that of Thai people. I told him it was because I was lucky to learn with a Thai native, an expert on Thai culture and language, for two years back in college. He said he was in Thailand for two years working as a Chinese teacher. The more we spoke, the more words and phrases I was able to recall. In fact, I haven't spoken Thai for ten years, and all of my Thai vocabulary has gone to a sleep mode. However, as we spoke, my vocabulary was re-activated, and I was so surprised that I could still speak Thai so fluently. The truth is I really miss speaking Thai. Sometimes I play old Thai songs that I used to listen to in college and sing along. Other times I speak Thai to myself. I'm really afraid that my Thai will finally go down the drain if I don't get to  use it often. But I'm really happy that I found someone who could speak Thai with me though it's just once a week when our class meets and his Thai is not that good. As we chatted, he told me that there are some people in the oriental market where we live who can speak Thai too. I can't wait to practice Thai with them. It's not that it's so hard to encounter Thai people here. In fact, I once got to know a Thai lady who was in English class with my husband. She's a really nice person and we exchanged phone numbers, but then I held off the idea of contacting her finding it a little weird given me not knowing her that well. Also I know there's a group of Thai students on campus and I really want to join them, but I'm just not sure how to approach them and if they're willing to speak Thai with me given the fact that all international students want to speak English more. Anyway, I think I'll just give it a try.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Random

Second day into 2013 and why is it that I'm feeling so miserable? I was able to accomplish none of my goals for 2012. Family, kids, friends, study.... everything went wrong. I have turned into a completely different person, old, messy, and bitchy. I'm totally screwed up. I don't know how to fix my life.