Trying again.

So... unsurprisingly, it has once again been a while. But this is Work of Mouth after all, so lots to mouth off about regarding the last 6 months especially.

In July, I finally finished school. Early August, I was hired a for a high school chemistry teaching position. I moved to the other end of California as a result of said position and for the first time in my life, I am living alone. Having my own space is great, for about a day, until you realize that "alone time" isn't going to end when your roommate comes home. There is no roommate. There is only a now 8-month old cat named Phi to get riled up when the sound of your keys jangling in the door rouses her from her day-long nap.

Phoenix N-G... Phi, for short.

The school that I now teach at is fabulously wealthy with educational resources, awesome teachers and hundreds of hard working students. I've encountered a few of the more... shall we say, relaxed students in my time there so far. Incredible to think that I've already survived a semester there and teaching chemistry, no less. It's funny to consider that when I first decided to become a teacher, I wanted to teach chemistry, was required to student teach biology instead, and am now teaching chemistry for the first time as a professional. Holy crap. I'm a professional.

The view from the top of the stairs of my hallway.

The kids at first were weary of me. I look young-- young enough to be a student. About once a week, I'm still being mistaken for a teenager, be it by a distracted secretary, a well-meaning security guard, or an office TA "looking for my teacher". I may be young, but I'm still something of a hard-ass when it comes to my classroom. Having the role model that I do-- my own high school chemistry teacher-- it was inevitable that I'd try to emulate her teaching persona. Despite this, the kids warmed up to me and I to them.

Drawn on a quiz by a student in a fit of boredom. She did well on the quiz, too!

Living alone means suddenly cooking only for one, which, I admit, has been a bit of a struggle for someone who grew used to cooking for two, three, or fourteen people. After realizing that one pasta casserole lasts me more than a week even if it's the only thing I eat, I gave up for a while on doing what I always did and just drank wine and ate cheese. I lost 10 lbs in the first 4 months of living here. That being said, I still do it right-- no Kraft singles and 2-Buck Chuck in this joint.

Wine and cheese party for one.

Recently, I started cooking properly again. It took some acceptance that food simply is NOT as good when you constantly eat alone. Work has settled down enough that I know what I'm doing (most of the time) in advance enough that I'm starting to have some free time for baking and cooking. I am a grown woman with an income now. Bring on the gourmet ingredients! 

Filet mignon with mixed vegetables and Cupcake Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

Turkey meatloaf with spinach and pine nut salad

You can guess where one who lives alone eats alone... Yes. At her desk. With her laptop. Sometimes with people on Skype! Every now and then S comes up for a visit and I gain back a couple pounds after consecutive nights of real food. Long distance love is probably the most difficult part of my life right now. Not just with S but with every person of importance in my life-- I've never been this far from my family and so many friends are still in LA and San Diego. Thankfully a few really good ones reside in nearby cities up in the Bay Area, but it's still not quite the same as being able to roll over to someone's house in 5 minutes and spend the rest of the night noshing on snacks and watching stupid YouTube videos.

Meet Henri. He is probably one of my favorite cats, after Phi and Simon's Cat, of course.

As a result of this persistent solitude, I've taken up a slightly haphazard search for hobbies. So far, the list includes interior design, DIY kitchen organization, crochet, a rebirth of abstract painting, and eating my way around the neighborhood with only impetus as my guide. Results have been varied. 

Phil's Sliders, Berkeley

From left: Blossom Bee, Dublin; The Cheeseboard, Berkeley; La Boulange, Danville

La Boulange, Danville

Maybe now with all of this idle time that I want to spend not thinking about work, more cooking posts will come. For now... leftovers for dinner. 

Teach, Speak, Blog.

In my year of student teaching at Morse High School, I learned a valuable lesson:

I am capable of failure.

I am not so full of myself that I believe I am perfect-- I made plenty of mistakes this year and I struggled to hone my craft as a science instructor. In the end, I also made it work by the time it really counted and I gained confidence in my skills as a professional educator.

This confidence was severely tested when I found out that I did not pass PACT, that terror of all assessment portfolios. To make things even more stressful, I had a month to re-do the whole thing. How was I going to pull my students together when it had reached the point of the year in which the spring could begin to untighten now that CST testing was over? Was I meant to be a teacher if I could not pass this important task in my professional trajectory?

I had never failed at something that I worked hard at before. I believed that hard work would be enough. My first reactions were to mope, curse the universe, and ask "Why me?" Ten minutes later, I knew it was time to get to work.

Over the next week, I designed a new teaching segment, implemented it, and reflected. To my ecstatic joy, I passed the second attempt and shared my story with my students. My peers, supervisors, and students were impressed with the finesse that I demonstrated in this process. I was proud of myself for picking myself up again, dusting off the remnants of my old PACT, and making something new that turned out to be the lesson that my students enjoyed the most all year.

Sometimes you will fail. Keep calm and pretend it's on the lesson plan. What you create the second time around will be better as long as you stay reflective, mindful, and positive. (Having an obsessive relationship with the rubric works, too.)

Downsizing

After living in San Diego for the last 6 years, I have managed to accumulate... a lot of stuff. A lot of it, I've realized over the last few months, I'm not really using anymore.

Rather than trying to sell it on Craigslist or taking it to the thrift store, I'm wondering if any of my friends and greek family might want it for themselves. All you have to do is pick it up from me. Prices will be low, sometimes free, depending mostly on how much I paid for it initially or how unused (such as art supplies) the item is.

If you see something you like, don't hesitate to contact me about the condition or price. I'm happy to negotiate. :)

Twin-sized Bed Set (Mattress + Bed Frame) - $50 
* Mattress is lightly used, in good condition
* Bed frame currently disassembled, can be reassembled if you need proof that it is complete
* Ikea brand frame, very easy to reassemble

Clean, lightly used mattress. 

The unassembled bed frame

The whole mattress (sorry for the clutter, it's been in storage for a while)

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Stay posted!

So... it's been a little while...

Hi guys-- I've been crazy busy/lazy/without a camera/foresight to take photos of what I've been cooking lately. This blog has been on the back burner of my mind for a while and I really want to be able to get back into it soon. So I'm pledging that this weekend, after I come back from a brief trip to LA, I will return with my camera and start blogging again once more!

Soon... very soon. :)

To provide some fodder, I've moved to Normal Heights, a San Diego neighborhood that is famous for hipster-y coffee shops, amazing little restaurants, and fantastic beer bars. Hopefully this will at least elicit some inspiration. :)

Cheers!

My thoughts on beer + The easiest bread you'll ever make.

I apologize that I've been gone for so long! This last quarter has been devoted to a natural history blog that I'm working on for an internship. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

Natural Treasures: A Brief Guide to the Natural History of UCSD

Back to food though! This quarter has been an experiment in breads for me with not as much time spent on real cooking or pastry baking. However, there is a lot to be said about the benefits of knowing how to make your own bread. Let's start now with a very simple and quick to prepare recipe.

There is nothing quite like the smell of bread as it is being baked in the oven. The whole house warms up and practically glows with comfort, even on the grayest of days. Lately in San Diego, we've seen our fair share of gray and sun, often in the same day, possibly even the same hour. Whatever the weather, this honey beer bread is sure to hit the spot and remind you that beer isn't just for college students on a Friday night.

But first! A discourse on beer...

I have this discussion with friends all the time. Beer simply has a bad rep. It's often associated with the images of red-cup-toting, hysterical college-aged kids, intense chugging contests out of glass boots, and middle-aged men with beer bellies who watch TV in their den with the lights off while slowly whitling away the night with a 6-pack of cans. We think of croaking frogs, impassioned debates over "less carbs" vs. "more filling" and silly marketing schemes involving color-changing cans. These tactics are great... when you're 6. Personally, I haven't taken an interest in temperature-activated food items since the early 90s when you could find a Lion King color-changing spoon in the bottom of your cereal box. (Prizes were better back then... the simpler things in life have cheapened over time.) Alas, I've digressed.

So what's the big deal with beer? In San Diego, there is in fact, an enormous beer and restaurant culture. Let's face it-- beer and food are perfect for each other. Much like the way wines can be paired with cheeses, chocolate, meats, and pastas, so can beer, with pizzas, burgers, other traditional pub fare, as well as more gourmet items. And around here, the beer can be as gourmet as the food itself. Brewery restaurants like Karl Strauss, Gordon Biersch, Rock Bottom, and the Coronado Brewing Company have cornered a market in local brews paired with stellar menu items. My personal favorite-- Karl Strauss' Sorrento Valley location, a sprawling restaurant complete with its own (man-made) koi pond and Zen garden. It's a gorgeous place for a date or a Sunday brunch with fantastic beers and food. My recommendation is the Amber Lager, the Portabello mushroom burger, and for dessert, the Beeramisu-- a decadent tiramisu made with Karl's signature Red Trolley Ale. Oh my... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Ahhh.

And now (finally!)-- to the bread!

I've heard of beer breads for quite some time now and finally decided to give it a try. With so many good beers out there though, it took me a little while to decide on which beer would be the star of my bread. Finally, I settled with Harvest Moon, the Blue Moon fall seasonal ale.

I am a big fan of Blue Moon and all of its seasonal ales. Harvest Moon is a particularly complex one with spicy notes and a hint of pumpkin. I've also used Sam Adams Oktoberfest and the classic Blue Moon in later breads-- all very good options.

Honey Beer Bread

3 C all-purpose flour

2 T sugar

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

2 T honey (I used blue agave nectar, which has a more molasses-like flavor without being quite as thick.)

1 bottle (12 ounces) beer

2 T (1/4 stick) butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 7" x 3" inch loaf pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed.

3. Spoon the batter into the pan. This next part made me a bit nervous the first time I did it. Pour the melted butter over the top of the batter. It's going to pool and it's going to look a mess-- but trust me on this. This step is what makes the bread truly amazing.

4. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

If you're like me, you'll be watching that bread rise and start worrying about the pool of butter that it's being born in. Don't fret! By the time you take the bread out of the oven, the butter will have traveled to the bottom of the pan and your bread will have a buttery, crispy crust. Oh. Heaven. My recommendation is to serve it thoroughly cooled so that the beer flavor has some time to mellow out a bit (though, it's pretty difficult to not eat some right away out of the oven. Try both.)

Quick update...

Hey ya'll! Sorry I've been such a bum about updating. For now, just a quick post to show you guys what I ate tonight for dessert...

My parents grow dragonfruit in our backyard. Usually, it's pink on the outside and white on the inside, with black seeds very similar to sesame seeds. Yesterday my parents came to visit and brought a few dragonfruits, noting that this particular set of fruits came from our neighbor's plant. Much to my surprise and glee, our neighbors grow the variety with the dark pink flesh!

I know, this sounds soooo geeky. But look at how GORGEOUS this fruit is! It was super juicy and sweet. I sat and ate it on my bed with a spoon... is it bad that I didn't feel bad about being a little messy since the fruit was the same color as my sheets?

Man, I love summer. I hope everyone else is enjoying their summers as well!

Coming soon... breads!

Potstickers. With step-by-step photo instructions!

I will be the first to admit it: I am a horrific stress-eater, especially during finals week and especially when I'm not only stressed-out but tired as well. Now that the school year is over, I have time to breathe, cook, and feed myself right again after weeks of overindulging in comforting, yet hip-and-waist-bound meals. And phoooey, do I sure need some toning down! But believe you me, I hate running or doing anything that in general, causes me to sweat profusely. Luckily for me, DT bought me the Wii Fit Plus set as a "graduation" gift. Now, exercise is a lot less boring. I have to say-- Nintendo is doing their part in lowering youth obesity. Yaaay Nintendo. In any case, I hope you all have been eating well and keeping healthy. Hooray for summer! This looks to be a potentially productive time for my food blogging exploits. :-)


Most of what I make is based on whims stemming from cravings for foods I've recently tried for the first time or foods that I eat regularly and constantly crave. This long-overdue post is dedicated to my love of the potsticker. I just can't get enough of these!

Many Asian cultures have some variation of the potsticker or dumpling. I'm declining to state a particular culture for my recipe and am opting to just call it what it is-- a delicious side that can be found in almost every Asian culture and on just about every Asian-style menu in Southern California. Living in San Diego especially, there is a vast plethora of Asian restaurants, each offering a different form of goodies tucked in a wrapper. But in San Diego, there is only one king of the dumpling. Yes, my fellow San Diegans, I speak of The Dumpling Inn. The very thought of it is enough to make me start salivating. Alas, eating out as much as I tend to gets expensive. Now and then, we must make do with what we can get at the grocery store and put ourselves to work!


I got the idea to make dumplings one night when I had a terrible craving for a plate of sweet, juicy pan-fried dumplings in the middle of the week. Granted, I have only been to Dumpling Inn once ever, but the impression it has made is permanent. Nothing I have had post-Dumpling Inn even compares. Luckily for me, earlier that week, my friend MKS taught me how to fold potstickers, the way his mom taught him growing up. It proved to be much less difficult than I had expected and lo, after an hour's worth of catching up and occasional cursing over a broken dumpling skin, we had produced several trays of dumplings, ready to be cooked to our liking. Definitely a recipe that not only costs very little for ingredients, but yields a high volume of  product as well. More bang for your buck! If you study other similar recipes, you may notice that I have chosen to omit a few common ingredients, namely corn starch and water chestnuts. Quite frankly, I've never been a fan of water chestnuts and I've never really seen a use for corn starch. So what the heck, why not. They're my potstickers, I'll put what I want inside them! (You, my friends, are perfectly welcome to put whatever you want inside. Go crazy, get creative!)


After my first attempt at making potstickers (almost entirely) from scratch, I was pleased with the end result. They were juicy inside and a little crispy on the outside. It was also the first time I've ever dealt with cooking with shrimp (gasp!) so the experience was full of firsts. The method I describe below is simple yet still secure. Worst thing that can happen is that your potsticker tears open when you begin cooking it. The pleats I use, though not as nifty as many pleats in one direction, if done neatly, have a niceness all their own. If you want to be a real boss, try making your own wrappers from scratch. Personally, I'm a bad sport when it comes to making non-cookie doughs. Maybe someday! This particular dough recipe from Nyam's blog looks particularly promising. It's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one with a fear of dough...


Give this a try and make it a social activity! Gabbing and giggling over dumpling skins is half the fun!


Dumplings (or potstickers, gyoza, siu mai, wontons-- whatever you want to call them!)
1/2 lbs shrimp, shelled and deveined. (I used frozen, already deveined shrimp that I allowed to thaw and then chopped).
1/2 lbs well-chopped pork. (Not ground pork.)
2 c finely chopped Napa cabbage
2 green onions, finely chopped
1" ginger root, finely grated
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 T oyster sauce
2 T soy sauce
1/2 t sugar
1 t sesame oil
1 package of frozen dumpling skins-- my instructions call for round ones.



1. Combine and mix your ingredients well. You should end up with something that looks like this. You can use a food processor to pulse your meats, if you have one. I'm a poor college student, so I just use my trust kitchen knife. Bwahahaha. Fear not the raw meats!

2. Once that's done, it's time to make the dumplings! Most store-bought wrappers are already pre-floured so flouring your hands isn't necessary. For my recipe, I chose to use round wrappers rather than square ones, for the nice half-moon shape you get at the end. Lay out one wrapper in your hand like so:

3. Next, spoon on a bit of your filling in the center of the wrapper. Using one or two fingers, gently spread a thin amount of water just on the edges of the wrapper. About the thickness of a fingertip should do.

4. Fold the wrapper in half over the filling, but pinch only the very top. This is very important if you're going for a nice pleated shape.

5. Now, pay attention! This gets a little tricky the first few times, but you'll get the hang of it as you keep going. With the pinched side still up, push in one of the sides so that it creates 2 new loose folds. Do not fold them down just yet!

6. Still with me? Good. Now, the 2 folds should be pointing to the side. For consistency's sake, I always do the right side first (you're seeing it as left, obviously). Pinch closed the fold pointing up towards you.

7. Ok! Now, with the fold pointing down, pleat it flat onto the top of the dumpling so that it creates two more folds. Check out the photo below, hopefully it helps...

8. After all that, you get something that looks like this. Repeat the above steps for the other side, making sure that the pleats all face up in the same direction. I know this would be much easier to explain with a video, but alas, my DSLR doesn't have video capabilities.

Don't worry if the first few look a little disastrous. It takes some practice. Once you get them all lined up and ready for cooking, they'll magically look a lot more professional  MKS cites this as "The Cheerleader Effect". I was puzzled at first when he said it but he explained, "Dumplings are like cheerleaders. One cheerleader by herself might be ugly, but when you put them all in one line, they look good."

Well said, M. Well said.

All right. Now that you have all of your potstickers made, it's time to cook them! 

1. In a large skillet, heat up about a tablespoon of vegetable oil on medium-high heat.


2. Lay the potstickers flat in the pan, pleated side up. You'll see that the pleats actually make it so that they sit nicely flat, ensuring a good, even amount of cooking. Cook for about 1-2 minutes and then add 1/4 cup of water. Allow to come to a boil and then cover. This will ensure that the meat is thoroughly cooked.


3. Allow another 1-2 minutes of cooking and then uncover to burn off the water, occassionally (and CAREFULLY!) lifting the dumplings so that they don't become flush with the pan. You'll just end up with exploded dumplings. No one wants that. 


4. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Serve immediately!