Hello everyone. Meet my new best friend…

Mr. George Foreman! Whoever this guy is who invented the best foodie machine on Earth, I hope you’re single because I freaking ADORE you!

Okay, that didnt come out right…but seriously. No, seriously— I’m hitting myself over the head for not having made acquaintance with this little fella eons ago.

I remember once when my dad went to home depot to pick up some necessities and ended up coming back home grinning with a big box of George Foreman grill. My mom and I berated him for spending money on “frivolous and extravagantly unnecessary” things and ordered him to return it back. Chastened for being wasteful, my poor daddy reluctantly obliged. Little did we know we were making the most foolish mistake in our life!

I’m amazed at what this $8.88 thing from Wal-mart can do. It’s so quick and simple, too! I’ve been playing around with it any chance I got, and wheeee! What fun! Let me just share a two things I’ve made with this guy, though. I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much amazing food, lol.

What I love most is that you don’t have to just grill hamburgers in this thing. And why the heck would anyone want to get a separate panini grill when this works just as well? It’s so versatile!

Check this out:
Fresh Fig and Brie Panini

One side smeared with honey-mustard sauce and topped with fresh figs, the other with thick slices of brie and topped with balsamic-caramelized onions.
Slapped on a thick crusty ciabatta (cut into 3/4 because apparently that’s the way to do it?)…
Grilled for about 2 minutes in the George Foreman!

Ooh~ Hot and crusty and chewy!
Some figs crept out, but that was okay because they got nicely caramelized by the hot grill pan!

And then, grilled sandwich #2:

Raspberry preserves, cheddar cheese, pickles, smoked turkey

Don’t look at me like that. It’s freaking good, I swear! The sweet preserves, the gooey sharp cheese, the sour pickles, and the smoky turkey…
Awesome midnight snack. I reckon it’s great for hangovers, too. I tell you, this George Foreman is perfect for college students, both the nerds and the party-ers!

By the way, I can’t believe a week has already gone. Things are really heating up and I’m getting bombarded by assignments and essays and readings, but yeah, I’m still enjoying it.

I love mingling among the busy students, participating in discussions and pretending to be smart, texting my friends at 2am in the morning, and being pressed on a tight schedule constantly. I seem to thrive in such an academic environment, and actually relish the pressure! I’m actually able to finish college in three years, but I think I might just drag it out a year more…hey, USC is paying most of my tuition fees anyway! 😉

Psst! By the way, many of you seemed astounded that I managed to take a picture of my professor in class…Well, I’d like to think that he’d be honored to be featured in my blog! Haha! But honestly, he is pretty cool and I don’t think he’ll mind. 🙂

Oh, and tomorrow is another special day…I’ll be having a small LA blogger meet-up! I won’t reveal the special people yet, though some of you might already know. I’ll update about our blogger date soon! >.< P.S. I had no idea it’s National Panini Month! How appropriate and just in time, eh? 😉

Turns out life doesn’t just hand you bad peaches. It hands you bad figs, too. Horribly expensive and horribly bad-tasting figs. Seems like my fruit-picking skills are failing me.

Figs are one of my favorite fruits. It’s just so juicy and luscious and chewy and…figgy. But the bag of lovely-looking figs I brought home was a total dud. Dry, tasteless, spongy. I thought I was munching on a dish sponge. I spit it out, cursed the damn fig, but couldn’t bear to throw it away. Why? Just for its beauty.
figsJust look at it. Damn this fat pouch of sweetness. Stop being so pretty! (The picture above is not mine, by the way)

Anyway. Point is, my bag of figs deserved to be tossed out, but I ended up keeping it deep in my fridge. Because it was pretty. Because I had great expectations for it, and I paid big bucks for it. The deceiving little conniving fruity fatales.

Today’s second meeting with my editor to edit my article for the Daily Trojan reminded me of this bag of figs.

I have had high expectations for journalism. It seemed so glamorous, so exciting, so thrilling. I once saw a journalist interviewing someone in the streets and I had to refrain myself to skipping over and fawning over him. I wanted to find out what shoes he was wearing, what notebook he was using, and what pen he liked to use for interviews. I wanted to gush about how cool his job was, how much I want to be like him, blah blah blah.

Yes, I would rather meet with a good journalist than— say, a star like Edward Cullen (darn, did I get his name right?).

But now…I’ve realized that as exciting as journalism seems to be, behind-the-scenes, the majority of my time seems to be sitting next to my laptop and cellphone, obsessively checking on emails and waiting for phone calls that are 4 hours late. Oh, dear.

Journalism is hard work. I have to have skin as thick as a rhinoceros, I have to be constantly up-to-date, I have to dig out “juicy” angles, I have to be hip and knowledgeable and aggressive and creative. All those stereotypes on annoying, obnoxious journalists? It’s true. Because I am being taught to be like that. And all I am is a little news writer for my college newspaper!

Glamorous journalism? It’s a facade, like that bag of deceivingly-pretty figs. In fact, I doubt there is any job/career in the world that is as glamorous as it seems to be. Behind the glamour are buckets of tears and perspiration.

Which brings me to this key question: Is journalism worth all that hard work?

Well, this is my answer: Am I going to stop buying figs because of this one bad buy? Hell NO! Am I going to quit my dream just because some hard work is involved? No freaking way!

In fact, this just brings in my topic for my previous post: When life hands you a bad peach fig, GRILL it!

Grilled Fig Pizza

3 fresh figs
1 whole wheat pita
1/3 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup kabocha (or pumpkin) puree
salt and pepper
cinnamon
2 strips bacon, chopped
1/4 red onion, diced
small bunch of spinach, torn
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
spoonful Parmesan cheese
drizzle honey (or maple syrup)
drizzle balsamic vinegar

Set out your dearest friend Mr. GF and grill the figs.

Meanwhile, mix the cottage cheese, kabocha, cinnamon, salt and pepper together, and spread it on top of the pita. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Fry up the bacon and the onions until cooked and fragrant. Nibble on a piece of bacon to make sure it’s crispy and delicious. Scatter the bacon and onion over the pita. Top with the grilled figs and both cheeses.

Bake in oven for about 10 minutes until the pita is nice and crisp, and the cheese is melted and you can’t stand the amazing tantalizing aroma anymore.

Take the thing out, drizzle with honey and balsamic vinegar. DIG IN!
Holy Fig! If a bad, spongy fig produces such a result each time, I wouldn’t mind it! Every penny that I paid for these turned out well worth it!
Ack! It just is absolutely gorgeous with all the colors!
But the taste is even more beautiful. Oh my GOD! The base of the cottage cheese and kabocha was perfect with the grilled figs and the acidic balsamic vinegar and the intense sweetness of the honey…
Damn fig. Grilled with a permanent black mark. Serves you right. But soooo good in my tummy!
Oh my God. Do you see that little oozing honey? Sweet nectar of the gods!
And pita sure makes for a lovely, thin and cripsy base!

Okay, I’m babbling. I don’t even know what the heck I’m saying, but seriously, this was one big ecstasy in my mouth, so no wonder I’m losing coherent and rational thought.

But I haven’t forgotten to say this: Whatever path you chose, you’ve got to undergo some intense grilling in order to achieve the best possible result. Good things don’t come in a breeze.

First, you’ve got to determine whether it is worth it. And if it is, don’t just give up and toss all your work away; keep on at it. The result may not be what you exactly expected, but you can be guaranteed that it is always worth it.

I may groan and complain as I work to achieve my journalistic dreams, but every sweat I break, every time I spend working on it, it is not to waste. Because I am improving. Because I am learning. Because honestly, the process of that is even more significant and meaningful than the end result.

Question of the day: Is there something for which you are busting your ass? Do you think it’s worth it, and how is the process of achieving it?

Having been brought up in an Asian culture, one thing that really impressed me when I moved to America is how shameless the people here are— and I mean that in the highest form of compliment.

Self-confidence and self-promotion is kind of frowned upon in Asian society. Instead, silence about one’s achievement and even self-deprecation is encouraged so as to display an appearance of modesty and humility.

If someone compliments you, don’t say “Thank you”. That’s rude and arrogant! No, you’ve got to first reject the praise, saying, “No, no, I’m not…” and then go on to downplay whatever compliment you received by saying something like, “I’m actually not that smart/pretty, blah blah blah…”

On the other hand, if someone criticizes you, you are discouraged from defending yourself, especially if that person is older than you. No, you’ve got to bear it with silence and dignity. But often times, those who just endures it ends up holding a nasty grudge that eventually poisons the relationship.

Imagine my surprise when I first came to America. I thought I was surrounded by a bunch of swollen-headed, disrespectful kids! I was shocked when the majority of the kids in class raised their hands when a teacher asked a question. That never happened in Singapore! Or when most kids seemed to have no problem stating that they are good in something, or the fact that nobody stuttered when speaking in public; in fact most seemed to relish the attention. Or when these kids faced critiques, they actually spoke up for themselves!

And you know what? I absolutely loved it. I loved the air of confidence, and the way everybody spoke out in class, even if some basically spoke a gabble of bullshit just so she/he could be heard. Until now, I’ve never really met anybody here who is truly “shy” the way some people are in Asia.

I have to admit, I still instinctively downplay any compliments given to me. But I’ve become less shy and self-depreciative over the years. I love to raise my hand in classes, and I don’t mind showing off my talents, or speaking about my achievements.

I think to a certain degree, being shameless is a good thing. It just means you are thankful for who you are and what you have, and it’s always nice to share that with others.

And now, I’m going to be completely shameless by bragging about this freaking awesome dish I made with Mimi, and by basically begging to win a giveaway. Because when it comes down to cheese, I have no face!! 😀

You see, one of the sister bloggers is having a fantastic giveaway…a whole $60 dollar gift basket to Cabot Cheese!!! The rules to enter is simple: Come up with a recipe using cheese.

Biz suggests using Cabot Cheese, but unfortunately, I’m dreadfully 1) poor (remember my measly bank account?) and 2) I’m frightfully, dreadfully low in cheese supply: I only have three kinds left! Which is another reason why I need to win this giveaway.

So without further ado, let me introduce my mind-blowingly, brazenly brilliant cheesy recipe…(see how shamelessly self-advertising I am?)

Kabocha Mac & Cheese with Bacon and Zucchini

2 cups dry pasta
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 large onion, diced
4 strips bacon, diced
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup kabocha puree
1/2 cup cottage cheese
about 1/3 cup milk
cheese packet from Annie’s Mac & Cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
handful of feta cheese
cracked black pepper

Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to box directions.

Meanwhile, cook together garlic and onion, and add in the bacon, and stir until cooked, then stir in the zucchini and cook about 2-3 minutes more until zucchini is cooked but not mushy. Grate in some black pepper.

In another bowl, whisk together the kabocha, cottage cheese, milk, cheese packet, and cheddar cheese. When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain, and immediately mix into the cheese mixture. Stir in the cooked vegetables.

Pile everything out into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and feta cheese, grate black pepper on top, and pop into a 400 degree oven.

Cook for about 20 minutes until cheese is nice and melted.

Ta-da!! I should have cooked it a bit more to get that toasted cheesy top, but the fragrance from the oven was driving me crrraazy!!

By the way, I had to borrow the cheese packet from Annie’s:
Why? Because I didn’t have enough cheese. You reading, Biz? 😉
Anyway. Obviously, casseroles aren’t pretty. But let me tell you, this was one explosion of flavors in my mouth!!
Who hasn’t deigned to let a bite of Mac & Cheese touch her lips in forever, loved it! (It’s true! Ask her!)
By the way, bacon, kabocha, and zucchini goes PERFECT together. What a fantastic combo! What a genius I am! (Again, in with the shameless self-promoting)
And of course, cheese will go with anything and everything. I would eat my own liver if it was smothered in good cheese.
So. I gobbled up half like a barbarian. Mimi nibbled up almost 1/3 like a dainty Southern belle. And we generously left the teensy bit left for my roommate:
There. I’ve gone all out and shamelessly done whatever I could to underscore the point that I must win this giveaway. And I’ve shamelessly established myself as a cheese-whore. But maybe that isn’t really news…?

But of course, part of being a good shameless person is also being thick-skinned, so I won’t be too…uh…devastated if I don’t win. May the best cheese-whore win! (Pick me! Pick me!)

Question of the day: So, I’m a shameless Cheese-Whore. What are you shameless about?

P.S. No blogger meet-up yesterday…The blogger I was supposed to meet got stuck in the road because her car broke down! T__T;;;

P.P.S. I’ve got a mid-term tomorrow. WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING writing about cheese?! Somebody smack me!

I recently bought a bunch of peaches which were on sale at my local grocery store. Well. No wonder they were on sale. They were under-ripe: sour and hard and horrible!

So. What to do?

There were roughly three options:

Whine and bitch about it while forcing myself to eat it
Throw it away, and feel immensely guilty about the starving kids in Ethiopia
Call up the store manager and demand a refund

I’m sure most of you have been in the same situation as me before, and I’ll bet the majority would be doing #1 or #2 (If you ever did #3 and succeeded, please let me know).

But there is yet another option…You can keep the peach, and make the most of it by taking advantage of its disadvantages…and thus actually being able to enjoy it fully.

You know, life is the same way. It ain’t all peachy like a fairytale, and all of us have something we grumble and moan about. It could be our appearances, or our family background, or our whatever irritating circumstances that hits us in the face from time to time.

People who succeed in life didn’t get to the point they are now because they had a wonderful life. No, they probably have had more obstacles and hardships than the average person; in fact, it’s their ability to manipulate whatever shortcomings they have to their advantage that they were able to get to the point they are now.

Here comes Preacher again: It really doesn’t matter what circumstances and situations we are in. The truth is, whatever you are dealing with right now is there for a reason. I truly believe that God has His most perfect plan for everything. Whatever you are facing right now, God has a reason and purpose for it; therefore, it is the most perfect thing for you right now. As long as we accept what we have right now with this perspective in mind, God will give you the wisdom and the strength to not only endure it, but to prosper through it.

So, I reject all three of the above options, and decided to go with the option #4. I took my sour and under-ripe peach, and transformed it into a stunning dish.

Grilled Peaches and Blue Cheese Pasta

1 firm yellow peach, sliced into wedges
3 oz dried pasta (your favorite)
2 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 small onion, chopped
1/2 small zucchini, sliced
1/4 small green bell pepper, sliced
3-4 shitake mushrooms, sliced
balsamic vinegar (about 1 tablespoon?)
dijon mustard (about 1 teaspoons?)
chicken broth (about 2-3 tablespoons?)
squeeze of lime juice
salt and pepper
blue cheese, crumbled (about 1/3 cup)

Heat up your grill (my dear Mr. GF!) and grill your peaches.

Bring some salted water to a boil in a pot and cook the pasta for about 8 minutes until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, fry up the bacon and onion together in a pan. Toss in the other vegetables with the balsamic vinegar, mustard, chicken broth, and lime juice. Play around with the flavorings to taste, then season with salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables are lightly cooked.

Toss the bacon-vegetable mixture with the pasta with blue cheese. Sprinkle with more blue cheese, and arrange the grilled peaches around.
Now, ain’t I glad I took home a bad peach! This dish was freaking impressive!
Ah, under-ripe peach is sour, but when grilled, the sweet juices are forced out, and it doesn’t get soft like a ripe peach. It’s still slightly sour, but it works marvelously in a savory dish!
Blue cheese, of course, works amazingly well with grilled peaches! I must make this combo again sometime!
Bacon is so delicious with peaches, too!

Love all the fresh vegetables in there. I hate soft vegetables, so I made sure they retained their slight crunch!
Don’t you love the pasta I used? It was from Ikea for just about $2.60:
ILove the cute moose shapes! It
’s whole-grain, too!

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday…The weather here is perfect right now! Unfortunately, I can’t really enjoy it right now because I’ve got an interview lined up for my Daily Trojan article. Wish me luck! I hope I’ll be able to understand my interviewee this time! 😉

Question of the day: When life hands you a bad peach…What do you do? Options #1, 2, 3, or 4? Any other advice for myself and my dear readers?tt

It’s been more than a week since I received my acceptance letter from University of Southern California. The high from the excitement and exhilaration has slowly cooled down. My wish has become a reality. I no longer have to dream about attending USC. Instead, I now have to think about it…and you know where thinking leads to…

Worry. Anxiety. Fear. Doubt. Apprehension.

It’s been three years since I’ve last been in school…three years since I’ve flipped open a textbook, three years since I’ve read anything but chick lits and diet magazines. So far, the only workout my brain ever got was from obsessing and calculating weight and calories, and devising crafty tricks and ways to uphold my ED habits and activities.

Suddenly, I was in a total panic. I thought: Oh, dear God. I am so ill-prepared for college. I bet half my brain cells are in a coma from lack of activity! How am I gonna adjust to all the stressful workload and hectic schedule of a college life? What if I don’t even remember how to study anymore? What if…*gasp*, I get (God forbid) a B?!!

You see, I’ve always been a perfectionist. Anything less than an A irks me. In high school, I made sure nothing blemished my perfect 4.0 GPA. The day I got a B+ on my Driver’s Education class, I was seen screaming and slamming lockers in the hallway. I’m not kidding.

So you see where the source of my worries is: my drive for perfectionism. I want to get good grades. I want to do everything, achieve everything. I want to be the best.

As I was worrying about this, a friend whom I had not seen for awhile suddenly sent me an email. In her email, she confessed to me that she has been dabbling with an eating disorder…and she was getting scared…but she did not know who else to turn to. The only person she could think of was me because she knew I was struggling with the same problem. It was a long, heart-wrenching email, and I was cut to the heart for several reasons.

First, I was once again shocked by how prevalent eating disorders are in this world. I’d never even dreamed that this friend would have ED! Second, I was enraged at how conniving and cruel ED is, as my friend poured out her pain and struggles to me. How dare ED rob her potential and happiness like that? And third, I was ashamed.

I was ashamed because I’d let my own selfish dreams get ahead of myself again. What did it matter if I got straight A’s in college? What did it matter if I graduated with honors, or with a prestigious internship? Will I be able to take my report card and trophies and accomplishments with me to the grave? What truly mattered in life?

My parents have always ingrained this to me ever since I was young: There is nothing as important as life. What matters most is my life, and other people’s lives. To be happy, and to make others happy. To treasure and love myself and others.

I believe that I experienced ED for a reason. Through my ED, I learned so much more about life. I gained precious insights and revelations about not only human pain and sufferings, but also inner peace and happiness that comes from God. I may not have gone to an academic university, but I have gone to Life University. And there is much more to learn, much more to experience.

College is so much more than grades. I don’t want to put my #1 priority on my academic achievement, but on my life achievement. The people whom I meet and bless, the real-life lessons that I learn outside of the classroom. I want to put my first priority on becoming not the best student, but the best person.

I’m still learning to be a good person. I guess attending Life University isn’t just a four-year course, it’s a lifelong course.

Sorry for the long-windedness again. But I just had to write this down before I forgot again, and I wanted to share these thoughts with anyone who can understand.

Anyway, I have yet another kabocha recipe for you today! Here’s something about kabocha you ought to know: Whenever I buy kabocha, I get two types. When roasted, one is really moist and mushy with soft skin, just like pureed pumpkin. The other is really dry and firm like baking potatoes with a thick, hard skin. (Maggie, did you ever experience these differences?)

This time round, I got the dry kind, which is perfect for dicing and stir-frying because of it holds its shape well after being baked. So, stir-fry it was!

Kabocha-Lentil Stir-fry with Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomatoes

1/4 cup black lentils, uncooked
2 sundried-tomatoes, chopped
1-2 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
1-2 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, diced
1/4 orange bell pepper, diced
1 cup baked kabocha, diced
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped green onion
handful crumbled goat’s cheese
spoonful of Parmesan cheese

Cook the lentils with about 3/4 cup water with the sundried-tomatoes.
Meanwhile, mix together the balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, and lemon juice. Set aside.
Once the lentils are cooked, heat up another pan and cook the garlic, onion, and bell pepper until soft.
Toss in the kabocha, stir-fry until heated through. Add in the cooked lentils with the sundried tomatoes and the vinegar mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in green onion at the very end, remove from heat. Dish it up into a bowl, go crazy with the cheeses.

What a lovely bowl!

The acidity of the vinegar and lemon juice contrasted really well with the sweetness of the kabocha and maple syrup.

I loved how the sundried-tomatoes infused its deep flavor into the lentils. No other seasoning other than salt and pepper needed!

How can
you say no to this? It has cheese and kabocha in it!

And I can just sit here singing odes to the wonderful kabocha and goat cheese all day. Tra la la~

Question of the day: What, in your opinion, forms the best person you can be?