I hear it cook

I smell the cinnamon

I smell the butter

I see the crust caramelize

I see the tips of apple wedges

I taste all the elements come together in my mouth

I taste my grandma’s apple pie

Posted in food Tagged: apple pie, hear, poem, sense, sight, smell, taste ]]> http://takefive5.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/apple-pie/feed/ 0 take5 http://www.drawingcoach.com/image-files/ear_drawing_1.jpg http://images.google.co.kr/imgres?imgurl=http://timesonline.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/18/nose.jpg&imgrefurl=http://current.com/items/90015179_electronic-nose-sniffs-for-cancer.htm&usg=__eucZKJtYwzqU9O-ytd1SY2l5vyg=&h=791&w=800&sz=447&hl=ko&start=1&sig2=TdPJ04ZUSKyPiWEXqBSnyA&um=1&tbnid=nO3vlVXkiGyv8M:&tbnh=141&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnose%26hl%3Dko%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1%26newwindow%3D1&ei=6TUbSu3sFKeCtgPzw5HdCA http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs23/f/2007/327/b/2/rainbow_eye_by_Noodlez222.png http://www.democratherald.com/dhblogs/mike_henneke/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/apple_pie.jpg http://takefive5.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/one-tsp-of-baking-powder/ http://takefive5.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/one-tsp-of-baking-powder/#comments Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:33:45 +0000 take5 http://takefive5.wordpress.com/?p=184 ]]> The second I woke up today, I knew that I wanted a traditional American breakfast menu like french toast, PB&J sandwich, waffles, or even simple scones.  The bad news was that none of them were available at home.  No where in the house were there any left over bread of bake-mix that I could use to whip up something real quick.

BUT, being the desperate food-girl that I am, I immediately turned on my macbook and searched for one of the simplest and quickest recipes: pancakes!

After typing in foodnetwork.com, I searched for easy pancake recipes.  What I noticed though, was that all the recipes required way too much sugar (no wonder store-bought pancakes or the ones at in-and-out taste so good!!!).  Then there was one recipe called, “Dutch Pancakes.” I simply clicked on it, and it only asked for 3 tsp of sugar.  That totally caught my attention, so I wrote the recipe down and went right to my kitchen to mix all the ingredients up.

The putting-together of this recipe barely took me 5 minutes.  Toss in some milk, flour, egg, and 3 tsp of sugar, the batter was ready to  be cooked.  What I didn’t quite realize at this point was its ‘extreme’ lack of sweetness.  Other recipes required at least a 1/4 cup of sugar for 3/4 of flour, while this dutch pancake only required 3 tsp of sugar for 1 cup of flour.  I perhaps should have paused for a second and added a little more sugar to it, using my math knowledge.

Anyhow, the bigger problem was yet to approach.  I was putting the recipe together around 6:30 am in the kitchen all by myself.   My Mom woke up soon and decided to help me out with the actual cooking process.  So, ladle by ladle, my Mom and I both started to cook this simple and quick pancake.

The cooking was going pretty well, until my Mom asked, “Did you put the baking powder in?“

“Huh?” I replied.  Then I remembered.  In order for the bread (or any type of cakes) to be nice and fluffy, baking powder is THE agent to make that happen.

My palm directly tapped my forehead (like the scenes you see in cartoons when a character forgets something) and I added a tsp of baking powder to the rest of the batter.  I knew it was late to turn the ones that have already cooked into airy pancakes.

When my Mom finished cooking those dutch pancakes, the difference between the ones with the baking powder and the ones without was so evident.  Not that the dutch pancakes didn’t taste good, but it wasn’t the original taste and texture of pancakes that I was expecting.   The Dutch pancakes had the same taste as the American pancakes, other than its lack of sweetness.

Even through the pictures above (gosh, I wish I would have taken my own photo ) the difference in thickness can be easily spotted.  The regular pancakes that we’re familiar with (left) is looking nice and fluffy, whereas the dutch pancakes on the left are thinner and lighter in color too.

What a difference a teaspoon of baking powder can make!

Let me give you the scenario and then you can judge it for yourself.

Your close neighbor just had their first child and they’re happier than ever.  Of course, you, the nice neighbor, go over to their place to congratulate the new mommy and daddy.  As a sign of appreciation, they serve you dinner with some good looking meat.

Then you ask, “Mmmm~~ yummy.  What type of meat is this?  I shall cook it sometime myself.”

Then they say, “well~~ I’m not sure if you’ll be able to find this meat.”

“What do you mean?” You reply with the invisible question mark above your head.

The new mom responds, “the meat that we’re serving you is my PLACENTA!!!!!”

If this were to happen to me, I would first put my fork down.  The first word that would pop up on my head would be… “GROSS!!!“  I’m still not fully convinced that people should eat their own placenta, but the article does a really good job stating the significance of the feast.

According to the article, “people being grossed out by this is mostly just fear of the unknown.”  I absolutely agree.  Often lack of knowledge is what hinders us from really exploring this world.  Their are over 280 countries in this world, and they all have different and distinctive cultures that make them stand out.  Perhaps, this is just another practice that has spread out to other countries.

However, there are countless skeptics on this idea.  Although no killing is involved, some question whether this is a matter of cannibalism.  Sure enough!  The placenta comes from human flesh, and if it’s served as meat, I don’t see why this can’t be considered as some type of form of cannibalism.  Such culture is not widely accepted in the world.  So far, humans are more used to eating chicken, cows, pigs, and other animals.

What do you think of the new placenta diet?

There sure are days when you feel as if you can stay up for as long as it takes, but then there are days when you want to snuggle up in your bed.  What would you do to stay up late?  What kind of methods or even tools does it take for you to stay up? Most people drink coffee, but my little secret is CHOCOLATE (unfortunately, having too much can contribute to your weight :S).  The caffeine seems to keep me awake for enough to finish most of my work I eat those bitter ones that make you frown, since those are the only ones that help me stay up late.

Sometimes, your eyes close unconsciously along with your big head that tilts downward at first, then falls on the desk after a couple minutes. These are the days when I do feel the extreme need of those toothpick-looking pillars that help your eyes to stay open.

Perhaps, it’s not good to stay up late all the time.  For teenagers like me, growing is essential, but lack of sleep can cause either the pace of growth or the process of it.

Any advice to what better methods out there to stay up late?

There are approximately 7 pens lying on the desk, 4 pencil cases, 2 lotion bottles (??), a bunch of markers, a timer, a headphone set, a calender, and even a mosquito spray.  Am I embarrassing myself a little too much??

As much as I hate to admit it, I just have to accept the fact that my desk is extremely unorganized.  I need at least 10 to 20 seconds to look for something on the desk.  How worse could it get?  There are stacks of files, homework, books on a small corner, and searching through each sheet takes a long time to get one simple task done.  Someone, please help me out of my misery!!

I guess the answer is simple: just clean it.  Easy for me to say, but that’s not how things really are in reality.  I even procrastinate cleaning my own desk.  But I have a good excuse!  I’ve got tons of work in my hands that I don’t have time for cleaning (reasonable??)  I would like to see a neat and organized desk, but that’s most likely not going to  happen until all of my SAT and AP examinations are done.  Neatness just needs to wait a little longer.

Let’s assume that I do get through all my upcoming tests.  Am I going to clean my messy desk?  Well, I should.  Having to have known myself for the past sixteen to seventeen years, I figured that plan might not work out very well.  I need an advice!  A professional advice that can ‘motivate‘ me to become not so lazy about this simple task.

For those of you who do have a messy desk like me, this website is going to help you to recognize your desk like you used to when you first moved it to your room.

Some people seem to be afraid to have fun or enjoy various things in life.  Look around, take a break, and just laugh!

Here are some “useless” facts from www.funnyfacts.com

JUST READ AND LAUGH!

FUN RANDOM FACTS 1-10

Ants never sleep.

No word in the the English dictionary rhymes with “MONTH”.

The human brain is 80% water.

Every year, kids in North America spend close to half a billion dollars on chewing gum.

The parachute was invented by DiVinci in 1515.

Your right lung takes in more air than your left one does.

There are 86,400 seconds in day.

A goldfish has a memory span of about 3 seconds.

Singapore has only one train station.

The earth is approx. 6,588,000,000,000,000,000 tons.

FUN COOL FACTS 1-10

Cockroaches can live for 9 days after their head has been cut off.

The world’s largest amphibian is the giant salamander. It can grow up to 5 ft. in length.

The first coast-to-coast telephone line was established in 1914.

A car traveling 100 mph would take more than 29 million years to reach the nearest star.

In Cleveland, Ohio it is illegal to catch mice without a hunting license.

In Sweden there is a ski-thru Mcdonalds.

Pinocchio is Italian for “pine head.”

Since 1313, it is illegal for an MP to enter the House of Commons wearing a full suit of armour.

In York, excluding Sundays, it is legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow.

If you add up the numbers 1-100 consecutively (1+2+3+4+5 etc) the total is 5050.

FUN DID YOU KNOW FACTS 1-10

Did You Know, Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn’t wear pants.

Did You Know, The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

Did You Know, 40 percent of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

Did You Know, TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Did You Know, Butterflies taste with their feet.

Did You Know, Coca-Cola was originally green.

Did You know, If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

Did You Know, Every day more money is printed for
Monopoly than the US Treasury.

Did You Know, It is impossible to lick your elbow.

Did You Know, Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

Smoothies.. the perfect chill on a hot Summer day. The best part of smoothies have got to be the fruits that you put in it.

Here’s a hardy and refreshing recipe for Banana and Strawberry Smoothie, the “Pink Swirl“.

I tried to be as entertaining as possible for the recipe.  All recipes are pretty much written in same ways, so why not give it a bit of a twist?

Recipe

Yield: 2~3

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas

12 fresh strawberries

1/4 cup of apple juice

How to make it:

1. Chop up the bananas and 10 strawberries as if you’re chopping away the brutal heat on a blazing hot summer day

2. Freeze them overnight

3. Put the other 2 strawberries in a blender until it’s completely puréed (if you’re using a juicer, skip #4)

4. Place the puréed strawberries on a strainer and strain out the juice only, pressing down the purée with a spoon

5. Spoon the strawberry syrup and pour it into 2 empty glasses (about a tbsp each)

6. Take out the frozen fruits and blend them together in a blender (it’ll end up having a sorbet-like texture)

7. Drop 2 scoops or more of the mixture as if you’re scooping cold vanilla ice-cream into the prepared glasses with the strawberry syrup in it

8. As you drop the scoops into the glasses, you’ll notice that the strawberry syrup splashes in the glass and creates beautiful pink swirls

9. Put a straw into the glasses (or teaspoons) and enjoy!

I edited “THE INCREDIBLES” clip and made a brief documentary of Costa Rica.  Not sure if this serves a significant educational value, but quite entertaining, no???

Enjoy!

Fortunately, when I was at the subway station, I decided to RECORD my trip back home.

I’ve never done it before, so the film is quite blurry, but it sure captures the business and hecticness of the night at Seoul, Korea.

Gang-nam, Seoul

(have you ever noticed that these logos are look similar??? )

These places are some of my favortie ‘chill-out-at’ cafés.  They’ve got great drinks, cakes, sandwiches, and I love the coffee aroma that you instantly smell once you go into one of them.  Also, these places are found all over the world.  When is the last time you’ve traveled to another country and didn’t see Starbucks??  Convenient, tasty, relaxing… there seems to be nothing else I’d want (other than the rising prices these days.. )

Just last weekend, here in Seoul, Korea, I found another great café called, ‘Take Urban‘.

It’s too bad that I thought of taking photos after I finshed my brownie… (there was only one piece left.. )

The interior inside was fresh and new.  Totally different from Starbucks or Coffee Bean.  It was more elegant rather than the cosy and warm feeling. (Not very good at taking photos, so they turned out quite blurry)

Next time I visit, I’ll make sure to take better photos with full piece of brownie and drinks.  But one thing is for sure: this is one of my new favorite places.