cronies and foodies unite

i had some visitors this weekend.
rob, my brother
and maddi, my sister.

it is her birthday next week so we wanted to make it uber fun.
[please, not like it wouldn't be anyway. look at these peeps!]

saturday night,
[whilst we fancied ourselves to the 55 inches of my cousin's QB face
in the first UCLA game of the season,]

we made some seriously yummy food

chicken tikka masala
and naan

(recipes from allrecipes.com - i love that site!)

my cousin made this for us a few weeks ago
and i admit that this is the second time i have made it already

so so good. if you are not the spicy type (i am totally the spicy type)
go easy on the seeds of the jalapeno cause the first time it was a bit spicy for my guests...

this time was perfect.
it usually makes just enough saucy stuff to live in the rice the way you want it,
but i think i will just add more to it to have more on the rice.

and please, if you have the option, use basmati rice when making indian.
it begs for it.

we make our naan on a panini maker so don't shy away if you can't get to the grill.
in fact, we like it thin and then we paint it with lots of butter, garlic, and parsley to give it a little hint of yum.

cause i have been cravin it and it is just too much work for two,
we also made

gyoza

* 1lb ground meat (traditionally it's just pork, but i have used a mix with beef, and pork sausage is my favorite to use cause it cooks up nice and has a kick to it.)
* 1/2 head of cabbage (the green kind)
* about 3/4 cup green onion finely chopped
* about 1tbs fresh minced ginger
* about 1tbs fresh minced garlic (or the minced stuff - no powder though...)
* 2-3 tsp sesame oil
* 2-3 tsp chile oil
(both of those you get in the "international section")
* 1 lbs soy sauce
* (optional) a beaten egg
* salt and pepper
* white vinegar
* won ton wrappers
(usually these are near the produce section -
you will use at lease 1 pck,
sometimes you will need more though, so get two)


my asian friend taught me how to make this years ago and it is always fun to make with rob cause he lived in japan for a while and he's kind of a purest

between the two of us, they were pretty naughty.

put the ground meat in a bowl
rinse the cabbage, pull apart, and then boil it until it is soft.
finely chop the wet cabbage, and squeeze all the water out before adding to the bowl.
give it a few minutes before making fun of the man you gave that job to, but then give it a go.

add green onion, garlic, and ginger, soy sauce, and the egg if you want to.
(the egg is to help keep it all together - i never use it, but rob does.)

add the freshly ground pepper until the surface is covered.
mix it up with your hands.
yes, your hands.

drop about 1 tsp of the mixture in the center of the wrapper,
close them by putting water on two sides (or half if they are rounds)
and pinching them together. drop em on a floured cookie sheet.

throw about 15 or so (lots can fit) in a frying pan with only about 1 tbs of oil
after the gyoza brown up a hint, drop a small amount of water in the pan and immediately cover to steam. (i like em more on the fried side so i only steam em for a minute.)
one of the reasons you boil the cabbage is so that it will cook as fast as the meat. it should only take a few minutes per batch.

the dipping sauce is about equal parts soy sauce and white vinegar.
just taste it until you like it. i like mine more vinegary than soy saucy...

hope you enjoy!

what's in a name?

at one point in my life,
i loved all things east of here.

asians, being free, nyc, d.c.,
i loved the east coast,
the pace, the people,
the access to information and good ethnic food.
and i loved the idea that i might someday
occupy that land of wonderment more permanently...

as some of you know,
i used to call this domain
"west coast girl - east coast world"

well,
not that i chose not to love my east coast life,
or asians for that matter,

but things started to heat up in az for me.
and so i stayed.

i have to admit,
i am one, happy, west coast girl

~meg

side note: in case you are interested,

a "blog interview" site interviewed me recently.

feel free to read it here.
and rate/vote if you feel so inclined...

another reason to love asians

event: karoke & spa
"type" of asian: Koreans

my friends chose to break me into the east coast thing easy.
ok- lets be honest, they already had this planned and i happened to get in town on the perfect night to party.
but i digress...

what these new easterners called "krazy korean night" was a trip:

first, we went to this korean restaurant. i will give you the short version of korean food as i see it:

• naughty
• spicy
• ricy
• somewhat rubbery (octopus... ew.)

good stuff though.... just exnay the swimming things and it is a perfect meal for me.

then, we went into a little room in the restaurant (no, i am not about to tell you this was a korean brothel or anything) where we sang karoke. it is awesome! the room goes krazy (ok, that is the last time i will spell crazy with a k...) with the lights every time a new song comes on. 1/2 of the people spoke korean and so they sang some korean songs (neckties on their heads and all), but there were a few english types in there too...

the white chicks and i wailed to a one certain "rainin men" and laughed the whole time. karoke = serious good times/workout for the abdominals. speaking of- who has the pictures from said event? i need— i need.

and then, we went to spa world.
here is where korea starts to look more awesome than its neighbors.

so, when you go to a korean spa, you first check in your shoes. i am told this is standard. they give you a little locker and an itty key and you put your shoes in there till you leave. i guess asians revere their footwear like we do our IDs... cause it seemed to be a collateral hold more than a welcome gesture. nonetheless...

then you get into these little outfits here. -->
like scrubs but not. and they all wear their towels in this Princess Leia style too... none of us could figure out how to do it... i guess we coulda asked but we didn't think it polite. then you enter one of these few sauna rooms and just chill there till you are sweating unbearably. the first one was only 135° or so and it took a while for this arizonan to sweat in there, but eventually we did and then we ventured through the rest. they all have a theme. there is a "rock" room, with little balls of rock. they are warm though so you just lay in em and it pretty much feels amazing until your air passageway is blocked by the steam that builds up in the chestal region.

koreans get their heat from their heated flooring. this is the floor that they will just put a mat on and sleep on (a very thin non-padded mat. hey- maybe this is why they don't have butts... hmm...). between sauna trips and bathing you can just chill here and eat (you buy food with your little key on your wrist) or watch olympics on a huge screen. side note: we were the only ones that really watched the olympics, maybe it isn't their thing. or maybe they are only into the asian male gymnasts- for which i would not blame them. Yang Wei* anyone?

this is the best part. the part that makes it authentically korean: the bathhouse.
in some of these spas in america, they will have a similar bathing room/pool/hot tub room, but you might be co-ed... or at least clothed. not at this one. at first, i was sort of terrified at the thought of baring all to at least a dozen other nude strangers, but it took watching my friend (who served in korea and has no fear of such a place) just rip off her clothes and walk in, for me to see it was no big deal. i dropped em and went in.

the bathhouse has a little area that you wash up in first before you get into the pools. you sit on a little plastic stool hoo-ha with a mirror in front of you (coulda done without the mirror, thanks) and there is a hand-held shower thinger and soap, wash cloth...etc. you just bathe! so after i "bathed" (or "splashed some water on myself for a few minutes") i went and found the hot tubs. no one was in them. one was "aloe" and it was green. and one was marked "rose" and it was pink. they were yummy and made your skin feel like butta. then there is a main pool which is basically like swimming in your bath water or like the 97° temperature of an outdoor swimming pool in the AZ. there were waterfalls and little places where you can sit that jet water into your flabby thighs, and even one that shoots water straight up so you can basically float there on top of the water pressure**.

there is a little area down in the corner where asians are getting greasy naked rub-downs, and you can pay extra for any of those normal spa-type services. they put it on your key along with any food you purchase and then you pay for it as you leave.

after the yummy wash down there are showers with shampoo/conditioner and things so you can re-wash off, and then you go get back into your scrubs and do it all over again. (only, we didn't.) we played some mexican train (how fitting, right?) and then we were going to sleep over, cause we could, but we didn't. they have segregated (men/women) rooms for sleeping that are like the open room with mats—only dark. my ride had to be up early so we just went home.

long story short,
asians = yum.
i will be returning to the spa shortly. i thank you.


* thanks- i know he's not korean. but go with me here.
** i call this the colon blow

China vs. US (the USA)

i am feeling inspired...



i have yet to watch all of the beginning of the ceremony with all of the cool stuff/artsy fartsydancing/flags/countries/asians... but i will get to that-- don't you worry about that.

i came in near this point-- the parade of countries. it was pretty moving to see all of the countries together and on china's turf finally. it wasn't really a surprise to see Yao Ming as China's flag bearer, but it was this kid's story that got me. Lin Hao is the charming 9-year-old orphan that survived the earthquake this year. i had chills as they explained about how this young boy climbed back into the rubble, himself injured, and saved more of his classmates. what got me leaking was that the commentator said: this boy is considered one of China's most influential people. he is in the top few and considered a hero. well of course he is! it says so much of china to value this young boy and to hold him high as an icon of hope for the rest of them. what an honor to give him a place in the parade next to one of the most well-known/revered chinese athletes.

it got me thinking about the U.S. now who do WE call heroes? do we even have any? if there were a story like this here, i wonder if more would even know about it than those already watching the 6 o'clock news. my guess: probably not. so who are the top 3 on America's list of "Heroes"? Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Oprah. i am not going to judge and say that they are not heroes-- because they do a lot of good for people. they have millions of dollars to do so. way to go rich people, for doing good. i still think it says that the western world will never get over ourselves. money matters too much. we at least wouldn't put a 9-year-old life-saving orphan on our list of influentials and that is almost depressing. what is equally depressing: Miley Cyrus is on that list. proof that our country is on its way out... (ok- she's not that bad... but still...)

as far as the rest of the olympics goes
so far, it has been great to watch our chicks dive
our swimmers swim like champs,
it was fun to watch the sand volleyball....

i won't lie, my favorite though is watching all of the asian male gymnasts. china and japan pulled out some amazing stuff early on and look really good... i mean they look good... cough.
honestly though, i can't stop watching them.
and why the hell not?
LOOK!

chello!

and then...

The basketball scene... was incredible...
(even though i didn't get to watch much of it...)


and did you watch this?!

cause it was incredible...
like football season incredible...
we all screamed for 5 minutes straight right along with you boys... rad.
definitely the best moment so far...
and of course it made it into this year's "power of the dream" montage for this one
(which is of course put to "Time of My Life" by David Cook-- nice choice)

and for the record, i don't think he's all that attractive...
he definitely needs dental.

remember...ret her into yow hawt..

what is it about the asians that fessimates caucasions?