This Moment

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Inspired by Soulemama

What I Cooked Last Week - Beef "less" Broccoli

I don't know if this is true for everyone, but for me, "what's for dinner?" is an ongoing everyday question asked by my family and the one I ALWAYS have in my mind.

So, I like to share what I made last week, for Mrs. C and for us. Maybe it helps for you to decide what to eat tonight?

Beef "less" Broccoli (recipe to follow)
Vegan Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce (this recipe)
Tortilla Soup
Quinoa Salad (this one -I substituted rice wine vinegar with red wine vinegar, and skipped red pepper flakes)
Cuban Black Beans
Homemade Salsa
Vegetarian Pizza
Fried Pollack with grilled vegetable salad

BEEF "LESS" BROCCOLI

One thing about cooking for another family is that I would cook something I would not cook if it weren't for the request that I receive. That includes cooking with "fake" meat. A while ago, Mrs. C. requested me to make Broccoli Beef with fake meat. I was not too excited about this request, to be honest, because I have always felt that if you are to become vegetarian, why "fake" it? However, I do understand that sometimes we miss what we used to eat; chicken nuggets, hamburgers, or lemon chicken. However, every time I made something with "fake" meat, I was left with huge disappointment. It is just not the same. The first time I made Beef "less" Broccoli, I followed this recipe. Mrs. C. suggested that I use beefless tips from Gardein brand . The result was okay, but it was not something that I would cook for my family. Mrs. C. suggested that I cut the beefless tips into smaller pieces and marinade it before cooking. She suggested another recipe. I did use Gardein fake meat with this recipe. This time, I combined the two recipes and made my own. The result was so good that I told Mrs. C. that I would eat this Beef"less" Broccoli with steamed Jasmine Rice.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp cornstarch divided (1 tbsp and 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp  grated fresh ginger divided (1tbsp each)
2 tbsp green onion minced
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp peanut oil (vegetable oil works fine, too)


1 package beef "less" tips (I used Gardein brand) cut up to the size you like
4-5 cups of broccoli head cut up into small pieces
1/2 red onion sliced

Direction:

In a medium bowl, combine 1 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tbsp soy sauce, minced garlic, 1tsp grated ginger, and minced green onion. Add beef "less" tips and toss to coat them. Marinade them for 10-15 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine water, remaining cornstarch, soy sauce, grated ginger and brown sugar, and stir until smooth. Set it aside.

In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high heat), add beef"less" tips, and cook until desired doneness. Stir them gently, and not too much, as they can break up easily. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add a little more oil and stir fry onion and broccoli for 4-5 minutes. I covered the pan to steam cook broccoli a little bit. Add half of the soy sauce mix and coat broccolis and onion. Return Beef"less" tips, and add the remaining soy sauce mix. Stir for 2-3  minutes

Enjoy with steamed Jasmine rice.

This Moment

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Inspired by Soulemama

Back to Routine ... or Not?

My husband went back to work this morning after three weeks of vacation. I was a bit worried before the vacation how this three weeks would be. We (the girls and I) had a good routine, and I did not want it to get disrupted. After three weeks though, I am happy to report that we enjoyed having him around, and he got to spend a lot of time with the girls, especially Little Peanut. Now that he is back to work, we have to re-establish our routine with just three of us. Today, however, we are still in the vacation mode. The girls are still in bed sleeping at almost 9am, and I let them. Why not?

In the kitchen, I made our regular yet delicious Black Beans Nachos for lunch the other day.

Ingredients:

3~4 cups of cooked black beans (you can use canned black beans, too)
one tomato diced
2 cups of sliced black olives
1/2 cup of chopped peperoncini
1/2 cup cilantro minced
2~3 cups of shredded cheese (I used Monterey Jack)
Salt
Chips

sour cream and salsa of your choice (optional, but recommended)

Direction:

Heat oven at 375 degree

Place chips in one layer in an oven safe dish
Add a half of black beans, sprinkle some salt over it
Add 1 cup of cheese
Repeat the layers of chips and black beans
Add sliced black olives
Add peperoncini
Add diced tomato
Add cilantro
Add the rest of cheese

Bake in the over for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted and golden brown.

You can add grilled chicken or browned ground beef if you like, but black beans only give good taste and texture.

Serve it with sour cream and salsa of your choice.

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

Vision Collage for 2014

Inspired by this blog post, I have been working on my vision collage. It is not at all finished, and I keep adding pictures and words to it. It looks like my energy is focused on home and family this year; making a cozy and inspiring nest for the family. You may realize that it does not have much cooking or food. I assure you that when I was cutting pictures and articles from magazines for this project, more than half was pictures of food with recipes. I actually have a folder full of recipe cut outs that need to be filed somehow. But I just did not think that those belong on this vision collage. Maybe I should make one just with food and cooking pictures.

Today, I worked on Ely and Little Peanut's room. I (secretly) sorted toys and clothes, and put them aside for Goodwill visit this week. I also put up some frames that I bought at thrift stores on the wall, also inspired by this blog post, and added some of Ely's old and new art work. Initially, Ely protested this change because I did this without asking her, but when she learnt that I am planning to change the pictures frequently as she creates new art, she brought her papers and markers, and started drawing. That is exactly what I wanted; to inspire creativity in my little artist.

In the kitchen, roasted butternut squash and sauteed kale has been a hit with my family. 

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 cups of kale chopped into bite size

3 tbsp of olive oil decided

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp of smoked paprika

Direction: 

Heat the oven at 400F

In a medium bowl, combine squash cubes, paprika and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Coat the squash with oil and spread the squash in one layer on a baking sheet. Roast the squash for 20-30 minutes until cooked but not too soft. 

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a fry pan. Add kale, sprinkle some salt and pepper, and saute until soft. You may want to cover the pan for a minute or so to soften the kale. Add butternut squash and sauté for just 2-3 more minutes. Add more salt and pepper to your taste. 

Serve immediately.  

My new addiction: Cover Buttons and Enchiladas

I just returned from a fabric store and I am giggling like a little kid. I bought a "Cover Button Kit" on sale for $3. I have been wanting to buy this and make buttons at home for my girls. It came with three buttons, and I already made two with fabric scraps. So easy and so cute, for hair accesories, clothes, accents... the possibility is endless.

In the kitchen, I have been a little bit addicted to enchiladas. It is, again, so easy and so delicious. You can vary your fillings. We have made it with cheese, black olives & mushrooms, black beans, or potatoes. Potatoes were okay. It needs more flavor. My favorite is olives & mushrooms. 

The recipe is from this site. I add a bit of smoked paprika to it. I skip the straining step because I use my wonderful Vitamix. But if you use a regular blender, I would definitely recommend not to skip this step. I also substitute Chicken Stock with Vegetable Stock made with Vegetable Bouillon cube. When adding the sauce to heated oil, be aware that it will splatter. The sauce will keep well for several days in the refrigerator and for a few weeks frozen. I think I need to keep this in stock at all time for a quick lunch or dinner. 

On Welcoming the New Year

Happy New Year!

I love this time of the year. It is time to review, reflect and reconnect. It is also time for new beginning. Every year, I think about new year's resolution, and every year I "fail". This year, I decided to not have "resolution" for the new year, but I have a "New Year Intention". The difference is that I do not have to "accomplish" it, therefore, I cannot "fail" it. I simply have to live every day with this intention in mind. So, here it is. My "new Year's Intention" is to

"丁寧に生きる” (= LIVE MINDFULLY).

May your new year bring you joy and growth in you life...

Cooking for Mrs. C...

For the past almost three months, I have been very busy in my kitchen. I am cooking for another family.

When my husband and I decided that I stay home with our girls, I (as a financial manager of our household) was a bit nervous. A few months into my staying home, I also started to get the itch. I NEED TO MAKE SOME MONEY. I had been working full time for 13 years before I went on maternity leave with my little peanut (and did not go back to work), and I was not completely comfortable with the fact that I am not making any Mula. Then an email came from my old supervisor asking if I would be interested in short term part time position. I was tempted, of course, and looked at every possible way for this to work, but in the end it just was not worth it, with the cost of daycare, gas price, being away from our girls, pumping breast milk, etc. It was just about then when Mrs. C. asked me if I would be interested in cooking for her family. At first, I did not take her request too seriously, or rather I thought "this is too good to be true". As I talked to Mrs. C. about what she wants and how she wants this to work, however, I started to think that this might actually work. The first weeks was a trial, and yes, it was definitely a trial. Since then, Mrs. C. and I have been tweaking our arrangement. The best part of this arrangement is that I LOVE this job. There is not one job until now that I wake up in the morning, excited to "be at work". Mrs.C. and her family are semi-vegetarian, so many dishes I make are vegetarian dishes, which works for me because my family is Pescatarian. This week, I made something new that was requested from Mrs.C. When I saw the recipe, I was a little skeptical because the only spice it calls for is 2 tablespoons of Curry powder. But it turned out very tasty. I think the vegetable broth gave it a very good flavor, and it is full of vegetables.






Vegetable Curry (Adopted from Rainbow Vegetable Curry from The Vegan Chef)


1 large red onion, cut into half and slice it
2 Tbl Sp olive oil
2 Tbl Sp unbleached flour
2 cups vegetable stock (I used Rapunzel Vegetable Cubes)
2 Tbl Sp curry powder
1/2 Kabocha squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups broccoli, cut into small florets
2 cups cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 cups carrot, sliced 1 cup red pepper, destemmed, deseeded, and diced
1 cup orange or yellow pepper, destemmed, deseeded, and diced
1 - 14 oz. can coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, saute the red onion in olive oil until soft (5-7 minutes). Add the flour, stir well to coat the onions, and cook for a few minutes while stirring constantly to slightly cook the flour. Add the vegetable stock and curry powder, stir well, and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add Kabocha, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, red pepper, and orange pepper, and stir well to thoroughly coat the vegetables with the broth mixture. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the remaining ingredients, stir well, and simmer an additional 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. 

Serve it with steamed Basmati Rice.

Serves 6-8

Blueberry Muffins

IBack in June when blueberries were in peak season, I went a little crazy, and bought a flat crate of blueberries a few times. 

This picture only shows 9 baskets but in a flat crate, there are 12 baskets of blueberries. I paid $40. Yes, it was a lot of money to spend for blueberries, but its season is so short and they are so delicious, I could not resist. At home, I washed, dried, and froze them in bags. I probably froze 8-10 one-gallon plastic bags full of blueberries. They are of course the best fresh, but we enjoy eating them frozen as is, in pancakes, quick jam, smoothies, and of course in blueberry muffins. I like to bake them in small muffin cups. My family loves them so much that when I make these, they are gone in a few minutes. 

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used coconut oil* here. You can also use melted butter) 

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 

Pre-heat oven for 400F

Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, white sugar, salt and baking powder) 

In a 1 cup measuring cup, combine vegetable oil and egg. Add milk until the combined liquid measures 1 cup (may need a little more than 1/3 cup milk) and whisk together.

Add egg/milk/oil mixture to the combined dry ingredients. 

Add blueberries and fold. 

Line your choice of muffin tins with liners and pour muffin mix in each cup. 

Bake them in the pre-heated oven for 18-25 minutes depending on the size of your muffin tin. 

To check if muffins are done, insert a chopsticks or a skewer stick into the muffin. If it comes out dry and clean, muffins are done. If you see wet muffin mix on the stick, bake them for a few more minutes. 

* notes on coconut oil: coconut oil solidifies at 76 degree. During the summer, my coconut oil is in clear liquid form, but in winter it is white and solid. If your coconut oil is solid, simply warm it up in a microwave. You also need to have other ingredients (milk, egg, and blueberries) at room temperature before combining them with coconut oil. Otherwise, your mixture will become very very thick. If using frozen blueberries, I would thaw them before adding them to the mixture or add the, frozen and fold them quickly. 

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They depend on me...

Every night at 1am and 3am, I have one wish which will never come true: I wish men could breastfeed... (Translate: i wish my husband could breastfeed...) Whenever Sophia starts crying Ely would call me, "mama! I think baby needs to breastfeed!" Yes. Yes. I know she does...all the time... As I nurse Sophia, I cannot stop thinking about the fact that we, women, feed our offsprings. The survival of our species heavily depends on us. I look at Sophia, who almost doubled her birth weight in two months, and I am amazed by this very primitive (yet important) function of my body: feeding our babies. For us humans, feeding our offspring does not stop when our children stop nursing. The end of nursing is just one milestone. Parents are responsible for feeding our children for a very long time. In my family, the primary person to feed the family is, of course, mama (= me). I was looking at Ely's baby pictures, and came across a lot of pictures of homemade baby food and toddler food. Although I highly recommend to make your own baby food, I know it is not for everyone. It takes time and effort. Ely is now old enough to eat the same meals as ours, and her health continues to depend on me. The other day, a terrible thought came to my mind...what if something happens to me... Who is going to feed them? At the dinner table, I told my husband, "I have one wish. Can you promise me that the girls will continue to eat good home cooked meals if something ever happens to me?", "please do not feed them frozen and boxed food." Of course, my husband did not take me seriously, and said, "nothing will happen to you." I am not expecting  anything to happen to me. I was talking about the "what if" situation, and yes, I am serious. My husband knows how to cook. He makes good pasta with tomato sauce, and super juice, and some sandwiches, but he cannot raise our girls feeding on only those foods day after day. I told him that it would be nice if he can expand his cooking repertoire, and he agreed. He hasn't quite entered the kitchen to do so yet, but I am hoping in the near future we will have a cooking date in our kitchen.

Tequila Cilantro Pasta

This recipe was adopted from a recipe I received from my friend Lisa. The original recipe is called "Tequila Chicken Fettuccine". I make this without chicken and replace chicken broth with vegetable base broth.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound dry spinach fettuccine

OR

2 pounds fresh spinach fettuccine

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro reserved for garnish

2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic

2 tablespoons minced jalapeno pepper (seeds and veins may be removed) - I usually omit this because it becomes quite spicy for my daughter.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter (reserve 1 tablespoon for saute )

1/2 cup chicken stock (preferably homemade) - I replaced this with veggie base broth using Rapunzel vegetable broth cube. 

2 tablespoons gold tequila

2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice or lemon juice if you don't have lime 

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium yellow bell pepper thinly sliced

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Cook 1/3 cup cilantro, garlic and jalapeno in 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Add stock, tequila and lime juice. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until reduced to a paste like consistency. This will take a while. Do not rush this step. You need to be patient. You also need to be attentive to the pot so that it will not burn. 

This is how it should look. 

Meanwhile cook onion and peppers, stirring occasionally, with remaining butter over medium heat. When the vegetables have wilted (become limp), add soy sauce and quickly toss and add reserved tequila/lime paste and cream. Bring the sauce to boil and reduce the heat to simmer, stirring occasionally. You don't want to continue boiling it as the cream starts to separate. Taste it and add salt and pepper if you like. Turn off the heat. 

Prepare rapidly boiling, salted water to cook pasta; cook pasta accoding to the direction. When sauce is done, toss with well-drained spinach fettuccine and reserved cilantro and parmigiana cheese. I this picture, I used spinach spaghetti. 

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Feeling grateful...

Where did the time go? It has been more than two months since I visited this space. What has been happening at our Makery? Not much in the kitchen or sewing department, but super busy welcoming and loving our new addition to our lives... Baby Sophia!! There has been a lot of challenges with her birth, my post partum, and everyone's adjustment, but I am happy to report that we are finally settling down. And "making" is slowly coming back to our lives...MY life. 

Today's post is not about making or cooking. It is dedicated to the amazing women I recently met, and the importance of a support system and community. 

6 years ago, I left Chicago where I consider it my second hometown to start a new life with my husband in Orange County. For the longest time, I had blamed him for uprooting me from my friends and family. Although I met a few very good friends in Orange County, I never felt that I had a community or good support system outside of my workplace. I often felt lonely and sad. All I had was my husband and later my daughter. But had it not be those few good friends I met though work, I would have been depressed or worse, and I am grateful for the friendship. When we decided to move to the Bakersfield area, I again had to make new friends and community. I am a friendly person, but I am more of an introvert and not the one to go up to someone and introduce myself. In fact, I met my very first friend because my husband took our three years old to a story time, and he started talking to her. Now, we became very good friends and our daughters became good friends.

She introduced me to a group of mamas in Bakersfield who regularly meet with their children to play and chitchat. But this group has become much more than a play date group for me. When Sophia was born two months ago, I had such a hard time trying to recover from giving birth, nursing, taking care of our three years old, and taking care of the household. My own family not being here, I had little support. My husband helped as much as he could but taking care of a three year old can be difficult. I was exhausted, depressed, cried a lot, and felt guilty that I was not doing enough for my girls. I became short with my three years old, raised my voice at her quite often, and cried later on because she did not deserve for me to be like that with her. Then, these mamas did something amazing for me. They got together and delivered meals for one full week! Each of them took turn, prepared the meal for me and my family, and delivered to our door. By the time they started the meal delivery, I was so exhausted, i was serving my family cans of soup for dinner. That is a warning sign for my physical and mental well being. One of my supervisors once asked me how I would know if I am deteriorating mentally. I couldn't think of anything because I often do not realize When I am tired or overworked until I explode (often toward my husband). Now I know. If I stop cooking and a can of soup is becoming my family dinner, watch out! So, these deliveries were a gift from the universe. Most of these amazing women did not even know me well yet. All they knew was that there was an overwhelmed mama (me) who did not have much support and needed help. All of the women are mamas of small children, which means their hands are already full. Yet, they did this for me and my family. 

Since then, I came to know these women better, and learned that many of them moved away from their family and community. Trying to build their own support system, they found each other. We meet a few times every week, let our children play together, and we talk about different things. I feel comfortable and supported. I am truly grateful for their friendship. I am still physically tired from nursing and running after My three years old, but I am emotionally more stable and mentally clearer. Thank you, ladies. Now it is time to cook!

Comforting Breakfast: Nutella Strawberries Crepe

Finally! I am on maternity leave, 36 weeks now and at home. I had a busy week with Ely and doctor's appointment etc. And I have been riding an emotinal rollercoaster. On Wednesday, I found out that baby Sophia is breech. I cried, blamed my husband (for him not being more supportive or stressing me out or whatever the reason I could find... heck for his hairy chest if that works!) Today is Sunday and I am calmer and more grounded. Of course I called my mother and she did the magic again. She is such Buddhist with her attitude of whatever happens, happens, you just have to face and accept it. She helped me ground myself and remind myself what is most important. My mother is so powerful. And I wonder if I will ever be so powerful and grounding to my daughters as my mother is to me. I look at my daughter and feeling the baby inside of me, I wonder how they will see me in 20 years. Will I be their comfort? Will they call me when they face life's difficulty? Will I be able to comfort them as my mother does me? I hope I will.

So this week, what I needed was a very comforting breakfast. Flour, eggs, chocolate spread and strawberries do it for me.

Nutella strawberry crepe:

1 cup of flour
1 & 1/4 cup of milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
Oil for the pan

Nutella
Strawberries



Mix all the ingredients except oil with a whisk or in a blender until smooth.

Heat nonstick pan, skillet or crepe pan (if you have one).

When the pan is heated, brush oil all over.

The pan needs to be pretty hot.

Pour about 1/4 cup batter and tilt the pan so that the batter covers the bottom of the pan (evenly if you can),

Cook on one side for 30 seconds or so on low to medium heat, and turn over and cook the other side for another 10 seconds or so.

Put the crepe on a plate, spread Nutella and add cut up strawberries, and fold. You can certainly use different filling, bananas, blueberries, whipped cream, etc.

It's spring time!

One of the great things about living in California is we get to feel the spring a bit earlier than many of the states in this country. That comes with abundance of fresh produce available. This weekend, Ely and I (and my big belly), went to a farmers market that we have not been for a long time. We are indeed lucky to have three (!) year-around farmers market in town. Two of them are managed and cared by the same manager and farmers/venders. And the other one is run by different farmers. I honestly love both of them, and we have friend at both markets. We have been going to the one closer to our house during the winter, but I received an e-newsletter about what is happening at the other market early last week, so we had to go check it out. Wow! What an abundance of fresh produce!! We caught up with farmer friends and bought a lot of greens, strawberries, eggs, and potatoes. There was also a new vender, a dairy farm/creamery! I have been looking for a local dairy for a while since we moved here, and I was very excited to see them at the farmers market. They are still about 90 miles away from our house, but they sell their milk in glass bottles, and has variety; whole milk, skim milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, and root beer milk. They also sell ice cream. We bought one 1/2 gallon whole milk, and 1/4 gallon chocolate milk.

The reason why I was looking for a local dairy was because I want to make homemade yogurt, cheese, and ice cream. For cheese, I needed to find pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) or raw milk. Many of the milk at a store are ultra-pasteurized in order to prolong their shelf life. But this one I bought today, is pasteurized. I am a bit nervous and has not had the courage to make cheese at home, yet. But I did make ice cream. I am lucky enough to have an ice cream maker, which makes ice cream making so much easier. I just followed the recipe came with the instruction booklet. But there is no comparison in taste and quality. Homemade ice cream not only allows you to know exactly what goes on into your ice cream, but also tastes much much better and creamy. The recipe does call for heavy whipping cream, which I had to buy at a store. But I am going to make frozen yogurt next time with homemade yogurt. I also made Lavender Lemon Sorbet adopted from the recipe for Lemon Basil Sorbet from the same booklet.

Simple vanilla and chocolate chip ice cream adopted from Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker instruction booklet.

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chip

In a mixing bowl combine whole milk and sugar. Whisk it until sugar is dissolved into milk. Add heavy cream and vanilla. You can cover it and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours to over night. I did not do this because I could not wait!

Turn on the ice cream maker, pour the mixture into the frozen bowl and let it mix until thickened. After about 15-20 minutes, add chocolate chips and run it for a few minutes. If it is too soft, put it in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

Business of giving birth...

Yesterday, I went to my 32 week check-up at my OB/GYN office. The Nurse Practitioner did all the measurements and checked the baby’s heartbeat. Everything is good. Then, she told me that it would be a good idea to go ahead and register at the hospital. I gave her a confusing expression because my OB/GYN office is in the hospital and I have been here for the past 7 months, but since my doctor/nurse is telling me to do so, it must be important, right? So, I walked to the main building and told the admission that I have to register to give birth. The person gave me several documents to go over, and an application to fill out. The documents explained when and which number to call, where to enter the hospital when I am ready to give birth, who is allowed to accompany me.. etc. The last document caught my attention. It was about “financial policy”. The paper first congratulates us for the baby, and thanks us for choosing their hospital. They hope that the time we will spend at the hospital is pleasurable and enjoyable. Then it says, “enormity of cost” for health care, and the hospital hopes to work with us and make it manageable. First of all, they will not charge extra for BILLING SERVICES. Second, all deductibles and co-payments are due one month prior to the birth date. Third, if you do not have insurance, you are expected to pay everything prior to the birth date, and that they will provide payment plans. And lastly, here is the cost of giving birth at this hospital if you do not have any insurance.

                Normal Vaginal Birth (discharged within 24 hours) $12,000 – $15,000

                Normal Vaginal Birth (discharged between 24 hours and 48 hours) $15,000 – $18,000

                C-Section (3 days of hospital stay)

                Infant Screening ($8,000 - $10,000)

WHAT?

I have been paying a little over $300 every month for the last 6 months at the OB/GYN office, so I asked the admission person if this cost is included in the payment plan I set up at the OB/GYN office. She said, “Oh, no. That is different. This is for the hospital”. But, my OB/GYN is in the north wing of this hospital… She said that this is solely for the time I will stay giving birth, and not for the cost of “medical care” provided by the doctor. She smiled and said to me, “but this is what it would cost if you don’t have insurance. We will run your insurance and let you know how much it will cost you, if any”.

I left the admission office dumb founded. When I arrived home, the first thing I told my husband was, “I am so disgusted by this whole thing”, and started explaining the “business of giving birth”.

So basically, in order for a woman or a family to have a baby at the hospital with prenatal care, which the government and medical professionals recommend, would cost at least $25,000, if you do not have any insurance. It would be more because I have a PPO insurance and still I have to pay $300 monthly for my deductible. This is to have normal and natural birth. Women have been giving birth all over the world, and we have been doing so for hundreds of years. Pregnancy is not an illness or disease, it is a natural thing. It is what we, human beings, do for procreation and survival of our specie. In any religion or cultural belief, procreation is one of the most important things we do. Still, in this country, it would cost almost or more than our annual earning.

When I had my first baby, I had different insurance where the monthly premium was much higher, but I did not have to pay anything when I gave birth at their hospital. No hospital cost, no infant care cost, nothing. I am sure the cost was as high as the one this time, but I just did not see it because it was set it up like that, and of course if I do not see it, I did not think it existed. I had a natural birth. Meaning that I did not have any “medical procedure”. I had a Nurse Practitioner midwife, a nurse, a doula and my husband attending the birth. No Pitocin or Epidural. And my birth was perfect and my baby was/is healthy.

Now that I am at 8 months pregnant, I am faced by this disgusting reality of the “business of giving birth” and feeling dumb founded. I remember when I went to my first prenatal appointment in October, before even seeing anyone, they sent me to their financial department. The financial advisor ran my insurance and printed out the cost of prenatal care. It was even before they told me “congratulations!”. I had to sign the payment contract to be seen by the doctor. I should have known… I should have talked to other people. I am beating myself up now because I wanted a homebirth, which would cost us about $3000, approximately the same amount of money we would pay at the hospital. But at that time, we did not know the cost of “hospital care” that just emerged (to us, anyways) yesterday, we thought it would be $1900, which is much less than $3000. So partly, for financial reasons, we decided to give birth at the hospital, but it is too late. We do not have another $3000 for homebirth and I am already 8 months pregnant.

Birthing is something we, women, naturally do. Of course, I am aware of the possible complications that requires medical attention. I am grateful for it to be available. I know a few close friends who needed that medical attention, and their children are perfect, but aside from that, I strongly believe that women KNOW HOW TO GIVE BIRTH. Birthing should not be medicalized and not be treated as business.

I just hope that our experience at the hospital in two months will be “pleasurable” and “enjoyable”.

Dilemma of a step-parent

I have a confession to make. Even though I am a big advocate for local fresh food and homemade family meals, if you look into my freezer, you will see... (Gasp!) hot pockets and burritos you can pop them in a microwave, and in the pantry, you will see a box of Honey Bunches of Oats, and canned ravioli. No, they are not our "emergency food". They are for my step-daughter when she come over on weekends. Yes, I am guilty of feeding my 13 year old step daughter something that I would not give to my 3 year old. But you see, you need to understand that I came into her life when she was already 7, and she comes over only every other weekend. She has her home with their own rules and culture and who am I to change or even question them? But I do feel guilty and feel as if I am neglecting my step-daughter when I allow her to pop one of the frozen foods in the microwave for her lunch while I am making black bean quesadilla with mango salsa for my daughter. I do like to assure you that she does not mind, actually, she would rather eat those than what I normally cook. In the beginning, I tried to cook "kids friendly meals" such as spaghetti with meatballs, Mac and cheese (with mixed vegetables), chicken noodle soup, etc. and green smoothies my husband asks her to try...but she would not eat it. All she would eat was beans and rice with chips, pizza, french toast, waffle, or plain hamburgers (no ketchup, no veggies). We did not have another child then, so that was all we fed her with. I would cook "adult meals" for us, and she would eat pizza. When we had Ely, I was nervous how our family meals would be. Over the years my step- daughter started to eat some meals we prepare, including pasta with homemade tomato sauce, salmon with rice, fried fish, spinach ravioli from Costco (without sauce for her, with sauce for us). But still no veggies of much kind. We do take her to farmers market every weekend that she is with us, and I ask her to help me cook sometimes. We always ask her if she wants to eat salad, or broccoli, or creamed spinach, or whatever I am cooking. The answer is 99% of time, "no, thank you". And I also have to point out that she is not doing this out of defiance at all. If I may say as her step-mother, she is one of the most respectful and caring teenagers I have ever seen. And I work with adolescents and so does my husband.

We do, however, have family dinner when she comes over. I just have to make sure I prepare things that she would eat. Or, I would make sure that if she eats cheese or pepperoni pizza, I make veggie pizza for us and our three years old, or if she eats frozen burrito, I make black beans burrito for our three years old. If we have spaghetti, I have a big bowl of salad for whoever wants it.

So, you see, my friends, I do understand your frustration when your child or you partner would not eat healthy as yo would like to. I do understand how you want to say, "forget it, I am not gonna try to change them" and also feeling, "I am worried about their health in the future..." I am reminding myself that even for her to eat our pasta with homemade tomato sauce (I am taking about using 10-15 tomatoes) is a big progress. In fact, we kind of make sure that we have it for one dinner while she is with us.

We are truly hoping that as she grows older, going to college, to the world, and be exposed to different cultures, she would not feel so eerie about food that she will encounter. And somehow with maturity she will one day try new things...

Just hoping we are planting a little seed of curiosity...

Monday mornings...

I love my (our) Mondays. There is no story time at the library or farmers market to go to on Mondays. I do not have to get us ready to leave for daycare or work. When I first reduced my work days to 4 days per week, I used to take my daughter to her day care so that I could have my own time, mostly doing housework, running errands and bit of watching TV. But then I started to keep her with me at home a few months ago. While I still have to do house work and run errands, we also go to parks, play in backyard, and visit friends. Maybe I am preparing for ourselves to stay home when the new baby arrives in 2 months. The more I stay at home, the more I want to stay home after my maternity leave. I know this is a very luxurious idea/decision for many of us. Certainly for me, who went back to work only after 7 weeks of giving birth to my daughter. I needed to. We needed to because my husband was in school. This time around things are a little different and there is an opportunity to stay home with our children. Besides, in order for me to go back to work, it will cost nearly $1500 for daycare for two and gas money to go to work. But financial issue put aside, I really enjoy doing things with my daughter, including cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. She is at the age where she wants to do everything I do. And I let her most of the time, closely supervising for her safety of course. And she always surprises me for what she can do. She is into cracking eggs and folding towels now. If anyone asks her how she learnt to fold the towels so well, she would tell you, "at a folding factory"...

Monday morning breakfast... Dutch Baby Pancake

Ingredients:

For 2 servings

2 table spoon unsealed butter
4 large eggs or 3 jumbo eggs
1/2 cup in bleached all-purpose flour
1/2 whole milk
1/4 tsp salt
For topping: maple syrup, powdered sugar, honey etc.

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 F
Melt butter in cast-iron skillet on low heat. You can use oven safe cake on or pie plate put in the preheated oven for a few minutes to melt the butter. Do not use microwave to do this. As butter melts, make sure all the bottom and sides are coated with butter.
While butter melts, mix together eggs, flour, milk and salt until well blended. I just used a whisk but you can use electric mixer or blender. Just make sure there is no lump in the mix.
Pour the egg mixture into the warmed and buttered skillet or oven safe dish. Place it in the oven and bake for 15-20 mins. Don't get alarms when the mixture "blows up". It is ready when the center is set and the edges are golden brown.
Dress it with topping of your choice.
Happy eating!
CopiedImage.png topping: maple syrup, powdered sugar, honey etc.

I am not afraid any more... Of bread making...

Bread making scares me. I have tried several times, using a bread machine, kneading it by hands and using food processor. None has come out great. A few were okay, but never so great that made me want to try the same recipe again. Bread making is one of my mother's hobbies. She started taking classes when I was in junior high school, and kept going to classes for at least 7-8 more years. Every time she came back from her classes, she would bring back new tools and bags of specialty flour, chocolate paste, cinnamon paste, etc. and her bread is the best kind I have ever tasted. She makes regular sandwich bread, dinner rolls, French bread, German bread... You name it. Whatever you see in the specialty bakery, she can make. I asked her for recipes, and I tried it myself. But for some reason, the result is always disappointing. My mother told me it is because of the kind of flour I am using, and I do not have a good kneading machine. I gave up bread making all together a while ago and decided to just purchase them at markets.

Recently, I came across recipes of NO-KNEAD BREAD. I have heard about this NO-KNEAD BREAD in the past, but never paid any attention because bread without kneading... Come on, it cannot be good. I was so skeptical, I did not even read the recipes. But I saw it mentioned in one of my favorite blogs, and in a book I was reading. So I went to the original source of 2007 New York Time Magazine, and read a few more articles related to this bread. I also checked a few YouTube posts. And it sounded and looked promising. So I gave it a try.

It is always exciting and anxiety provoking to try a new recipe. But cooking is 90% confidence. It was helpful to see YouTube posts, because when I was mixing ingredients and saw how wet it was, I was a bit scared. I did not take any pictures because I started this in the evening on my working day in-between making dinner, doing laundry, and giving bath to Ely. The good thing about this bread making is that it is so labor conservative. My hands-on time with this bread was about 30 minutes all together. But it takes a long time to make it. From the time I mixed the ingredients to putting a piece in my mouth took 26 hours. It needs slow-rising for 12-18 hours, preferably more. And then another 2 hours right before you put it in the oven. So I started it at 8pm on Tuesday, and finished at 10 pm on Wednesday.

The result?

Unbelievable. It is unbelievably amazing because how little effort it took from me to make this rustic bread. This is indeed an artisan bread where the more you chew it, the tastier it gets. This is not a fluffy white bread. This is the bread to savor each chewing, and if you eat a lot, your jaw gets tired but you would still want more.

I took the bread out of the oven at 9pm. The kitchen and living room smelled wonderful. It was time for us to go to bed, so I wrapped it loosely with a baking paper, and let it sit on a rack to cool down. It was very hard to resist my desire to cut it, but the recipe said to wait for at least one hour. When I took it out from the oven, the bread was making this tinkering noise. Ely was also excited to see this bread out of the oven, and I told her to put her ear close to it because it was singing. She was disappointed that we could not eat it and we had to go to bed. Soon after, my husband came home, and I heard him in the kitchen un-wrapping the baking paper. He came in the bedroom, and said, “that bread looks great!”. It was 9:40pm. Ely was still up. So we decided to cut it and taste it. It tasted like a French Bread from a fine bakery. Tonight, I am making a creamy potato-vegetable soup to go with it.

Here (this, this and this) are some links to the recipe I used. I will make this bread again soon (this weekend?), and will take some pictures and post them here. It is important to leave it for one hour after you take it out of the oven. The crust is very hard when it is just out of the oven but softens while it rests.

Fruit of Paradise

We had a beautiful weather this weekend here. 80 degrees and we just entered March. My daughter believes that it is summer already. With this weather, and unfortunate Influenza outbreak at our house with our nephew, we stayed out of the house most of the day. On Saturday, Ely and I went to the library for story time, and farmers market to stock up and boost up our immune system with vitamines and antioxidants with fresh veggies and fruits. Then we went to visit friends of ours who have a grapefruits tree and a lemon tree in the backyard. The trees were full of round evidence of California sunshine! Grapefruits have a botanical name so perfectly fitting, Fruit of Paradise, packed with vitamin C, and disease-preventing properties such as carotenoids, Limonoids, Pectin Fiber and other minerals.

We were going to get “some” but ended up with more than 50 grapefruits and more than 30 lemons.

We juiced them, made lemonade, lemon pound cake, and vegan fruit jello.


Vegan Fruits Jello

300 ml of water
3 teaspoons of Agar Agar powder
⅓ cups of sugar
300 ml of freshly squeezed grapefruit juiced (from 4-5 medium grapefruits)
1-2 cups of diced fruits of your choice (I used grapefruits, strawberries, and pineapple)

Mix Agar Agar powder and sugar in a pot

Add water slowly whisking rapidly, making sure there is no lump in the mixture

Put the pot on stove top whisking continuously to make sure that there is no lump

Turn the heat down to low once it reaches boiling temperature  (you will see it bubbling)

Continue whisking on low heat for about 1-2 minutes

In a different pot, warm the grapefruit juice for about 1-2 minutes

Turn off the heat of both pot, pour warmed (not hot) grapefruit juice into Agar Agar mixture whisking continuously (DO NOT DO THIS WHILE IT IS HEATED ON THE FIRE - the mixture will not get firm if you continue to boil it)

Add diced fruits into the mixture and stir lightly
Pour the mixture into the dish(es) of your choice. You can use one glassware or jello cups if you have them available.

Once it cools down, put them in the refrigerator for one hour or so until jello is firm and plump.

Enjoy!

Blog posts from the past.

I wanted to transfer some of my old posts from my old blog, but I could not find the way to do it. So here is the link to my old blog with recipes for...
Oatmeal cookies
Peachy guacamole
Carrots soup
Cucumber agua fresca
Blueberry muffins

http://onemealtime.blogspot.com