First time cooking fish

Even though I was raised on the California coast, I didn't, and still don't, eat much fish. I even more rarely cook fish. However, Taiwan is an island nation, and as such fish plays a big part in the lifestyle here so I figured I should try to prepare it at least once.

Yes, this is the first time in over five years in Taiwan that I've cooked fish. And I must say, it came out delicious! (Thanks to Dylan for the inspiration)

Let's eat…

Ingredients:

• 1 White fish, like tilapia
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp minced green onion
• 1 Tbsp minced ginger
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 Cup water
• 1 Tsp black vinegar
• 1 Tbsp tapioca starch or corn starch, mixed with 1 Tbsp water
• 1 Tsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp minced red chilies
• 1 Tbsp minced leek
• salt and white pepper to taste
• Minced cilantro (optional)

Note: There wasn't any tilapia in the store, so I just bought what was available which was a fish called barramundi or Asian seabass.

Directions:

Rinse the fish and pat dry. Sprinkle both sides with a little salt and pepper. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a pan and sauté the fish until both sides are crispy. Remove.

Add 1Tbsp of oil to the pan and stir fry the garlic, green onions, and ginger until fragrant.

Add the soy sauce and sugar and bring to bubbling on low heat.

Add water and bring to a low boil. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

Add the black vinegar.

Thicken with the tapioca/corn starch mixture.

Mix in the sesame oil, and the sauce is ready.

Cover the cooked fish with the minced red chilies and leek.

Pour the sauce on top, and you're ready to eat.

 

HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL! 中秋節快樂!

Today I irritated the hell out of an old lady

Ah, language blunders…you gotta love 'em.

Before all that, though, I must point out that I'm currently snacking on hot tea and a wonderfully delicious loaf of bread.

It's the one on the left in the picture, made with lemon, pomelo, and chocolate chips, and it's out of this world.

The one on the right is chocolate and tangerine, which is next on my list.

The bakery is called Magie du Levain (樂凡) and it's only a couple of minutes from my work (桃園市永安北路466號).

OK, so here's what happened today.

I'd been out on my scooter, doing errands and on my way home, and decided that I wanted to make a salad for dinner. Instead of going to a grocery store where I'd have to find a parking spot and go inside the store, I thought it would be much more efficient to find a vegetable stand down some back alley. Which I did.

I pulled up in front of the stand, but didn't see any lettuce. There may have been lettuce in the rear part of the shop, but I was feeling too lazy to get off my scooter to take a look. So I decided to be authentically Taiwanese and just sit on my scooter and ask the laobanniang (lady shopkeeper) if she had any lettuce.

(I should point out that previously I'd learned the Chinese word for lettuce as 生菜 shēng tsài. Also, when you look up 'lettuce' in various online dictionaries, the first translation it gives is sheng tsai—just so you know I'm not making this stuff up.)

ME: Qing wen, you mei you sheng tsai? Excuse me, do you have lettuce?

SHOPKEEPER: Zhe bian. Here (pointing to cilantro).

ME: Bu shi, wo bu yao xiang tsai. You sheng tsai ma?  No that's not it, I don't want cilantro. Do you have lettuce?

SHOPKEEPER: Zhe bian you a. Yeah, it's right here! (once again motioning toward the cilantro and starting to get pissed)

ME: Wo zhi dao, zhe shi XIANG tsai, ke shi wo yao SHENG tsai…SSSHHENG TSAI. Um, yeah, I know this is cilantro, but I want lettuce…LET-TUCE!

SHOPKEEPER: (waving her hand and walking away, mumbling obscenities under her breath)

There was nothing to do but leave.

I reassured myself that I had been pronouncing the words flawlessly; it was simply a matter of this short-tempered woman not recognizing impeccable Chinese when she heard it.

I later called my friend, a Chinese language god among men, to ask him where I'd gone wrong. He informed me that, despite Google Translate, sheng tsai actually means any leafy vegetable, so when you ask for it you'll be shown any leafy vegetable the shop happens to have on hand.

Like cilantro.

The actual word for lettuce is 萵苣, pronounced wō jù.  

So instead of a salad I whipped up a delightful broccoli cheese soup. I'm still contemplating whether or not to risk further humiliation by returning to the vegetable stand to explain myself.

Half Marathon Training Week 7: Injury & Nike+ inaccuracies

 

Week	Date	Weight	Waist	Run	Minutes per Km	Notes
4 years ago	04/15/2008 (Arrival in Taiwan)	70 kg (155 lbs)	84 cm (33")	--
1	12/03/2012	75.5 kg (166 lbs)	94 cm (37")	30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/05/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/08/12			-- [heavy rain]
2	12/10/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/12/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/15/12	76.5 kg +1 kg	91 cm	57 minutes 6.5 km	8.7
3	12/17/12			33 minutes 4 km	8.2
	12/19/12			31 minutes 4 km	7.7
	12/22/12	76.3 kg +0.8 kg	91 cm	40 minutes 6 km	6.6
4	12/23~12/29	--	--	--		Xmas
5	12/30~1/5/2013	--	--	--		New Years
6	01/07/13	75.9 kg +0.5 kg	91 cm	35 minutes 5.4 km	6.4
	01/09/13			35 minutes 5.4 km	6.4
	01/13/13	75.5 kg	93 cm -1 cm	1 hour 7 min 10 km	6.7
7	01/17/13			35 minutes 5.1 km	6.8
	01/21/13			34 minutes 5.1 km	6.6	First use of Nike+ sport band (not calibrated correctly)
	01/24/13			6'36" 1 km	6.5	Calibrated band
8	01/27/13	76.3 kg +0.8 kg	93 cm	1 hour 40 min 13.5 km	7.4	Injured knee (iced and rested knee for several days)
	01/31/13			38 min 5.1km	7.4	First run post injury. Could barely run for 300m before walking. Nike+ mileage way off.

Half Marathon Training Week 6: Wet and Wild!

Not only am I back, but I'm back with a vengeance!

Today I ran 10k in the pouring rain. I loved it—the "crazy guy" looks from passers-by huddled under their umbrellas, the cool rain on my face that prevented overheating, and the satisfying sense of accomplishment.

I began my run at 2:15. I vowed not to look at my watch again until the end. When I finished 10k I checked, hoping for a time of 90 minutes or less. My watch read 3:22.

Sixty-seven minutes? Is that even possible?!

I had to double check my route mileage. According to Google maps, my route is 850m. I ran it twelve times. Yep, that's 10.2k.

Still not convinced, I used Google maps to check the distance on a different path that I run, a park bicycle path that has official mileage signs. That route is marked as 1.5k. The result on Google? 1.5k.

Wow. I really did it! 

By the way, I was reading my tape measure wrong after week 1, so the waist measurements weren't correct until today.

Week	Date	Weight	Waist	Run	Minutes per Km
4 years ago	04/15/2008 (Arrival in Taiwan)	70 kg (155 lbs)	84 cm (33")	--
1	12/03/2012	75.5 kg (166 lbs)	94 cm (37")	30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/05/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/08/12			-- [heavy rain]
2	12/10/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/12/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/15/12	76.5 kg (169 lbs) +1 kg	91 cm (36")	57 minutes 6.5 km	8.7
3	12/17/12			33 minutes 4 km	8.2
	12/19/12			31 minutes 4 km	7.7
	12/22/12	76.3 kg (168 lbs)  +0.8 kg	91 cm (36")	40 minutes 6 km	6.6
4	12/23~12/29	--	--	--
5	12/30~1/5/2013	--	--	--
6	01/07/13	75.9 kg (167 lbs) +0.5 kg	91 cm (36")	35 minutes 5.4 km	6.4
	01/09/13			35 minutes 5.4 km	6.4
	01/13/13	75.5 kg (166 lbs)	93 cm -1 cm	1 hour 7 min 10 km	6.7

Half Marathon Training Weeks 4 & 5: Complete failure

First, let's get the excuses out of the way. Cold, rainy weather…check. Christmas and New Years holidays…check. Spending too much time on Facebook and the Internet in general…double check!

The result: Not a lick of running for two weeks. Writing that is almost as embarrassing as posting my gut photo.

OK, so it's a new year and time for renewed action!

When my final class ended last night at 10:00pm, a nagging voice in my head told me that I should run when I got home. But the little devil on my other shoulder told me that it was already so late, and the weather was too cold, and I hadn't eaten dinner yet, and besides, tomorrow I'd have more energy….

Faced with this dilemma, I turned to my coworker Nick, who's also training, for some words of encouragement and motivation. I can't really remember what he said now, but whatever it was it did the trick. As soon as I got home I quickly changed into my running gear and bolted out the door, careful not to turn on the PC, grab a snack, or do anything else that might stop me.

I assumed that, after two weeks without any running, I would have lost the endurance that I'd built up. Surprisingly, I hadn't. In fact, I ran my best time since the beginning of training.

Instead of my usual 3 minutes run/2 minutes walk routine, I jogged 800m, no matter how long it took, followed by 1 minute of walking. After 35 minutes I wasn't completely exhausted and felt that I could continue for quite awhile longer. However, since I was out of practice I stuck to the 35 minutes as indicated in my schedule. Just knowing that I could have continued gave me renewed motivation and more assurance that it's definitely possible for me to complete the 21k in less than 3 hours.

I've added another column below—Minutes per Km—as an aid to track my progress.

Week	Date	Weight	Waist	Run	Minutes per Km
4 years ago	04/15/2008 (Arrival in Taiwan)	70 kg (155 lbs)	84 cm (33")	--
1	12/03/2012	75.5 kg (166 lbs)	94 cm (37")	30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/05/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/08/12			-- [heavy rain]
2	12/10/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/12/12			30 minutes 3 km	10
	12/15/12	76.5 kg (169 lbs) +1 kg	91 cm (36") -3 cm	57 minutes 6.5 km	8.7
3	12/17/12			33 minutes 4 km	8.2
	12/19/12			31 minutes 4 km	7.7
	12/22/12	76.3 kg (168 lbs) -0.2 kg	91 cm (36")	40 minutes 6 km	6.6
4	12/23~12/29	--	--	--
5	12/30~1/5/2013	--	--	--
6	12/07/13	75.9 kg (167 lbs) -0.6 kg	91 cm (36")	35 minutes 5.4 km	6.4

What's for dinner? Sichuan pork belly

The original name of this recipe is Sichuan Double-Cooked Pork Belly. It uses meat that has already been cooked and prepared as a temple offering, then brought home and fried up in this dish. Since I didn't have any sacrificial meat on hand, the pork in my version is only cooked once.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound pork belly, sliced
• 1 pkg. dried tofu, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 green onions, sliced (I didn't have any so I used regular onion)
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 1 red chili pepper, sliced
• 1/2 head of Chinese cabbage, torn
• 1 Tbsp spicy soybean paste
• 1½ Tbsp sweet soybean paste
• 1½ Tbsp rice wine
• 2½ Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil

 

DIRECTIONS

Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a pan.

Fry the pork belly until brown.

Remove from pan.

Fry the tofu in the pork oil until the white areas are golden.

Remove from pan.

 

Stir fry the garlic and onion until fragrant.

Add the spicy and sweet soy bean pastes and mix over low heat.

Add the rice wine and mix.

Stir in the pork belly and tofu on medium heat.

Mix in the bell pepper, red chili…

...and cabbage.

Stir in the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and serve.

This recipe is from The Best-loved Everyday Dishes: Mastering the Culinary Art in One Cookbook by Cecilia Hong Baiyang.
這個食譜是從最想學會的家常菜：從小菜到主食一次學透透 作者:洪白陽 (CC老師) 來的.