Oyster motoyaki

If thunder strikes 2 seconds after lightening, that means it struck pretty close, right? The rain in Pasadena that greeted us home from Hawaii has caused water to seep into our bedroom carpet. Luckily, our landlord is fabulous and had our carpet assessed and back to normal within 48 hours.



This picture was taken several days before our trip to Hawaii. Dave and I were craving seafood buffet but couldn't find one that was decent and worth dishing out some mula. So, we ventured out to Whole Foods which has a great selection of seafood. Since I posted this picture on Facebook, people have been asking me for these recipes... especially the oyster motoyaki one. Here it is!

Ingredients:
6 medium fresh oysters (we bought the jar for $5.99)
3 white mushrooms finely diced
1/3 brown onion finely diced
8 spinach leaves cut into wide strips
9 tbsp of mayo
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of miso paste
a dash of black pepper
slices of lemon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Clean oyster meat (rinse under water) pat on paper towel to dry. Cut into bite size pieces.
3. Prepare cupcake tins or oyster shells
4. Mix mayo, miso, sugar, pepper thoroughly
5. Line 12 cupcake tins or shells with thin layer of mayo mix
6. Stuff spinach, mushrooms, onions and oyster into the tin/shell
6. Generously cover with thick coat of mayo mix
7. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes in 400 degrees F (if the shells don't balance, you can use sauce bowls to balance or sea salt mounds)
8. When the top layer is golden browned, it's done!
9. Garnish with lemon slices. Serve with bread or rice.

Goes great with sushi. You can substitute oyster for fish or scallops. They make awesome hors-d'oeuvres. If you have oyster shells, wash and keep the oyster shells and you can reuse them. If the shells are a little too much work like they were for us when we were starving, I suggest lining the cupcake tins with the aluminum cupcake liners. Bon appetit.

In Spam and war

The diverse foods of Hawaii linger in our memory. The Japanese introduced shave ice (which we got to devour on three different occasions. The Korean contributed their BBQ. And the Americans... well, the Americans made SPAM! Ah, the mystery meat often teased by many has such rich history, mostly related to war. This is probably why Spam is such a staple in Hawaii. One of my favorite Korean meals is called budae-jjigae which literally means army stew. The spicy stew is made from Spam, sausage, American canned beans, instant ramen noodles and kimchi in an anchovy or beef stock seasoned with gochujang (red chili paste) - basically, whatever non-perishable food items that were easily accessible at the time. Americans were stationed in Korea during the Korean War and their supplies were often raided or given away to locals.

This is how I like to make my budae-jjigae:
8 cups of stock (anchovy or beef)
1/2 cup kimchi
2 green onions chopped
2 large tbsp of canned baked beans
1/2 can of Spam
1 sausage
1 slice of Kraft cheese
1/2 cup of sliced rice cake
2 tbsp of red pepper powder (gochugaru)
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of minced garlic
1 package of instant noodle (just the noodle, not the soup base)

In a pot, boil the 8 cups of stock. The traditional stock I make is water boiled with dried anchovies and kelp (dashima), then passed through a sieve. But you can also use beef stock (make sure it isn't too salty since the other ingredients are).

Combine the red pepper powder, soy sauce and minced garlic to make a paste.

In another large pot, preferably a shallow one, arrange the kimchi, green onions, beans, Spam, sausage, rice cake, and cheese. Also add some of the red pepper paste depending on how spicy you want it. Add 4 cups of the stock and let boil. Then, add the noodles and boil until the noodles are done.



The best way to make this stew is to cook it on a portable stove in the middle of the dining table where everyone serves themselves. When you start running low on the broth, just add more and maybe some more paste if needed.

There are so many variations. Dave loves to add tofu. I like to add mushrooms, specifically enoki mushrooms. I've seen bacon or seafood used. Basically, whatever you have on hand.



Maybe not the healthiest meal but it's such spicy goodness!

Oahu, HI

Dave and I recently got back from a trip to Oahu with our good friends and former neighbo(u)rs, the Widemans. We found an incredible deal on TravelZoo and ventured to the island of Oahu for four days and three nights. On Monday, we arrived at the Honolulu Airport and rented a Nissan Versa (like Hiro Nakamura on Heroes). So glad we did. This little car got us everywhere.

The first night, we took the H1-E highway escorted by our good friend and former neighbor, Manu, who happens to be an Oahuan native, and drove to Kona Brewing only to find it closed for a company party. Manu suggested Zippy's as an alternative and it was great. One thing we quickly learned is that Hawaiians love their portuguese sausage, spam, eggs and rice. We then checked in at the Castle Ocean Resort Waikiki.



Tuesday's meals consisted of McDonald's local specials, Haupia pie, Helena's (kalua pig, poi, ahi poke, laulau, pipikaula short ribs), Waiola shave ice, and Kona Brewing pizza, salad and beer. All so delectable! We went to the USS Arizona Memorial and spent some time at Waikiki beach, but mostly we just ate all day.





Wednesday, we had breakfast at The Original Pancake House, lunch at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck, and dinner at Puka Dog. After breakfast, we headed to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve for some snorkeling action and made a day of "roadtripping" around the Windward coast to the North Shore and back to Waikiki.






Our final morning, breakfast at Leonard's Bakery for their malasadas (portuguese donuts) and pão doces, and a fish jun lunch packed to go from Yummy Korean BBQ.



Before we left for Oahu, Ben forwarded an email of suggested things to do in Hawaii. At first glance, we thought, this was just a list of places to eat. We soon learned during our trip that this is what Hawaiian people love to do. Eat! Their eclectic mix of people and food from around the world has made Hawaiian food what it is.

For example, the portuguese sausage, traditionally called linguiça is found everywhere. The Portuguese sugar plantation workers, unlike the Japanese and Chinese who came as single men, came to Hawaii in families. They were offered land, although considered to be at the bottom of the haole hierarchy, and citizenship when Hawaii became US Territory. As Manu explained over lunch at Helena's, haole literally means "breathless" because the first Caucasians that came to Hawaii did not share in the Hawaiian kiss, or honi. It was used derogatorily. The Portuguese immigrants contributed much to the culture. We namely got to experience the sausage, malasadas, pão doces and even the ukulele was adapted from a Portuguese instrument called the braguinha (from Madeira) or cavaquinho (from mainland Portugal).

Listen to your mom

Dave and I ventured back "home" to Vancouver this week. "Home" is a relative word now... The moment we arrived back in Pasadena, I felt more at home than I did in Vancouver. But I digress. It was my one and only niece's first birthday. I'm amazed at my sister who's a mother of three kids. She is literally a full-time mom, since my brother-in-law works from 6am to 9pm during the week and also works Saturday. My sister and I, four years apart, were never that close growing up. We fought right up until the day she got married. Yet, she's pretty much the closest friend I have now.

Parting with her family in Canada, I can't help but tell the kids to listen to their mom. Growing up, I always remember hearing people telling me to listen to my mom. This time it hit a different chord. Sure, it's a great way to tell kids to behave but when I said it to my niece and nephews, it meant: I love your mom a lot... please, be nice to her.

Thoughts at the steering wheel

In the last month, I've been in two accidents. The first as a passenger with my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephews. I saw it coming as we rear-ended a car on the I-5 heading north. Both airbags were activated and the car was totaled. Luckily, no one was injured but the accident definitely left a dent in our psyche. The next morning, Elliott, my 5 year old nephew, unexpectedly burst out into tears at the breakfast table remembering the trauma of the accident. It's interesting... that with any other sort of trauma, you would avoid whatever activity that led to it for some time... but with driving, you're back on the road almost immediately whether it may be as a driver or passenger without much time to process it.

A couple weeks after this accident, once again, I was in a car accident. Except this time Dave and I were rear-ended on the 210-W heading to work. Again, not much time to process it. Ever since these two accidents, I have been on edge whenever I see brake lights or when we change lanes. I had a dream a couple nights ago that we were spinning on the highway and a bus T-boned us.

I want to have something profound to say about the fleeting nature of life and about the need to seize the day! But.. mostly, I just want to say... wear your seat belt.

Americans for a night!

Last Saturday, Dave performed at Uncle Reds Pizzeria in Bellflower. Suzanne and Danny Gallego, whom we met through Cornerstone, have been inviting us to try their delicious pizza for ages and finally they suckered us in by asking Dave to perform at their Uncle Red's Acoustic Brew. BTW, their pizza lived up to the wait. The musicians got free pizza and beer for their groupies!!

My cousin, Grace, performed with him for a couple songs and invited her family. I'm so glad my uncle and aunt got to see him perform. Come to think of it, I don't think anyone in my family has seen him perform live (except for Tim who opened for him at the Jameson Brown gig). Uncle Peter exclaimed, "We get to drink beer and eat pizza like real Americans!"

Dave did wonderfully. He was witty, charming and very talented. He's been recording songs for his new EP at home, DIY (do-it-yourself) style and I think the quality of his recordings has improved drastically, not to mention his stage manner too. I'm glad to see him so happy doing what he does. And I'm glad my family got to see what he does too... American style!

My Grandfather's wisdom

Dave and I had the day off yesterday... and with some dilemma as to where we should go on a day trip, we decided to head to Orange County to have lunch with Grandpa and Grandma. While Dave and Grandpa talked about their family histories, I helped Grandma go through her meds and medical history and made a little pocket list for them to carry around. Apparently, she was admitted in January for an angiogram. I had no idea! So much for their RN granddaughter.

We then spent the afternoon with Grace, my cousin, in Huntington Beach... Lena, my other cousin, joined us for dinner at Tokyo Table and we ended our evening chatting at Grace's house with the family and Danny. We shared stories of our times with Grandpa.

Uncle Peter gave us a story of when they had just moved to California. Peter had finished junior college and was working, helping out with their landscaping business, making nearly $5000 a month. Pretty good for the 70's. He remembers Grandpa advising him to save up for a year and make a down payment on a house, or even two. Grandpa had run many businesses in Korea and knew it was a great time in the housing market to invest. At the time, Peter thought it was such a ridiculous idea... but now when he thinks back, it could have potentially been one of the best moves he may have made in his lifetime if he had. Grandpa was a wise man.

I then said to Uncle Peter, if we follow the logic that Grandpa is a wise man, then the advice he gives now must be even more valuable since he has lived the bulk of his life. Looking back to our lunch with him, I remember all he kept repeating to Dave and me was to hurry and have children. "Nothing is more important than having children and expanding your family."

Thoughts at the kitchen sink

What an interesting culture and generation I live in. In which, at times, I unconsciously and passively participate in. Society tells us to go to school for higher education to have higher paying salaries so that we can pay back what we couldn't pay for in the first place. We need to buy a house we can't afford, borrow money to do it, and spend our lives paying it off.

I would hate the day when my job wasn't something I enjoyed but became just a means to pay off what I've borrowed.

Congrats to John & Michelle

It's been a busy couple months with John & Michelle's wedding on September 24th and my sister's family visiting. We also moved to our back house and, of course, school and work. To add onto the madness, we booked a flight to Hawaii in December with our good friends Ben, Meredith and Anika.

I'm excited!

NP

Surprisingly, not many people know what nurse practitioners are. A lot of people think I'm finished with school right now because I'm working full-time as an RN, but I only finished my bachelor's degree in nursing. Right now, I'm also working on my master's degree in nursing to become an NP.

Recently, I started my first clinical rotation for women's health and am surprised how far I have come in the first two weeks of class. I performed two annual well-woman exams and charted my first progress note.

Bye, Bye Trinity

It was bound to happen sometime, and the time is now! For the past two years, Dave and I have been living in Fuller Housing - specifically, the Trinity community. We live in the middle of the three apartment complexes that form Trinity. We have met and said goodbye to some of our closest friends here. I planted my first garden here. Held countless Settlers of Catan games on our glass table. Entertained many communal meals and parties. We learned to live in community here and most importantly, we learned to communicate effectively and lovingly as a married couple here. We will miss the community for sure. Yet, I hope they'll still include us!

Recently, we found a small, one bedroom back house in Pasadena (I heard that something like 68% of Pasadena's homes have back houses). We will finally have a yard with grass and our own mulberry and avocado trees. It is definitely smaller than what we have going here at Trinity, but we're looking forward to the change. We can now entertain in our patio/yard!

Pictures to come of our new place!

Surprise!

For Dave's 26th birthday, I held a surprise birthday party for him. He was indeed surprised. With 20 of his closest friends and my family, it was definitely a great turn out. We especially loved the individual birthday messages everyone left for him on our camera.

This will be Dave's last birthday that we spend at Trinity.

September

Another year has gone by and September is here again. It's a time for school to begin, but most importantly it's the month of two very special occasions for our family of two. Dave's birthday AND our wedding anniversary fall in September. For our two year anniversary last year, Dave and I ventured to the Channel Islands for a day trip and had fun hiking the trails. This year, John (one of my many cousins) and Michelle will be getting married.

This time last year, we met Mike Brown for the first time and went to Newport Beach. Morgan, who joined us at the beach last year, is also getting married this month.

I woke up yesterday from my nap to a vague shadow of something crawling on my ceiling. It was blurry because my contacts were out... but I flipped. I ran out of our bedroom screaming and Dave (happily napping beside me) jolted up along with me. "I think I saw something!! You have to go check it out! I don't have my contacts on." Poor Dave, confused from his sleep, goes to check the room and nothing.

I was pretty sure I saw a creature or a bug that was 3 inches long with 3 long protrusions... I think? Man was I freaked out... but the more I came to my senses, I don't think I've ever seen anything shaped like that in my life. Not a bug or an animal.

So this is what it feels like to hallucinate. Was it a dream?

I had a patient before that saw cats in her room and couldn't believe otherwise. This patient was at least pleasant. some patients have hit, kicked and yelled at me as a result of their delusions.

This gets me to thinking, where and how does the good news of Christ sit with those who have dementia or psychiatric disorders - who genuinely you can not reason with. Those whose fear is genuine to them, however, delusional it is in reality. Even when I knew what I saw was probably a dream, I still barely could step foot back in our bedroom.

Forward-rising

I've been so busy updating my family history blog that it's been a while since I've attended to this one. Yesterday, we went to see Abby Road (a Beatles coverband) and Led Zepagain (a Led Zeppelin coverband) perform at the Santa Monica Pier. It was interesting to see these young performers who have found their niche in the music business, even if it is a cover band.

These are some pictures from Dave's performance at the Key Club on June 4th this year for his Do-It-Yourself Music Marketing class. The students in his class learned to book, promote, and perform. It has definitely been a challenge for Dave, trying to find his place in the music industry where he is good at what he does, enjoys what he does, and where it sits well with our souls... but it is pretty fun!

Understanding Dave's love for music has also been a challenge for me since the beginning of our courtship. During undergrad, I couldn't understand why he spent so much time playing the guitar, composing music and not "studying" according to my standards. When we got married, Dave started his own music fund from his tips that I agreed not to touch. I learned to critique his music without being too harsh, starting with the good stuff and ending with the needed improvements, but also being honest.

When he made the decision to take an indefinite break from Fuller and explore his options in the music industry, I learned to break away from my traditional view of Christian outreach and formulate our role and duty as Christians together in a more creative way. The journey is just beginning, and maybe Dave will be called to traditional ministry in the church one day, but for now, I'm learning to be ever more reliant on the Holy Spirit. We are constantly re-evaluating what is acceptable in God's eyes and not the eyes of those around us. To those who see this transition as "back-sliding", I see it as just the opposite.

**title amended from Forward-sliding to Forward-rising

The Park Family Tree

The blog has begun!

http://theparkfamilytree.blogspot.com

Climbing my family tree

At our last family gathering, my cousin Jiea and I shared an idea that has been on both our minds: hearing about our family history from my maternal grandparents. I recently saw the Lisa Kudrow version of Who Do You Think You Are on NBC.com and was inspired to find out my own family history. It's a little harder tracing Asian ancestry because there's less of a variety of family names: Park, Lee, Kim, Cho, etc... you get the picture. I've been wanting to blog about it and Jiea had the idea of capturing it on video.

To the best of my knowledge, my mom's family migrated from North Korea to South during the Korean war and came to the United States from South Korea somewhere in the 1970's.

Tomorrow, I'll be visiting my grandparents with lunch and will start this exciting process of discovering my roots.

Catalina Island

This week, our adventures took us to Avalon, CA on Catalina Island. We took an early morning ride on the Catalina Express from San Pedro, CA. We were told the weather would be cool, but it was actually perfect for kayaking, snorkeling, mini golf and hanging out on the beach.


Our accommodations were at the Hotel Mac Rae on Crescent Ave which is a prime location - a staircase away from the beach in the center of all the hustle and bustle. The hotel provides free beach towels and DVD rentals. We claimed our territory on the beach, Dave reading "The Craft of Lyric Writing" and I, the women of faith series on Florence Nightingale.


It was our first time kayaking and snorkeling. There was a not-so-early-bird special that we took advantage of. $68 for kayaking and snorkeling gear for two for 4 hours, including a cooler for a picnic. We made it to a secluded beach where we enjoyed a couple turkey sandwiches and an iced white tea with pomegranate. We spotted several different fish species snorkeling- the Garibaldi was the most exotic looking (our California state fish). Despite it being our first time, it all came pretty naturally.


For food, we tried Joe's Place for salad and clam chowder, Ming's for Chinese food, the Lobster Trap on two occasions for fish tacos and for king crab, queso sticks, steamed artichoke and poke, and Jack's Diner for breakfast food. All the food was wonderful!

All in all, a great 3 day, 2 night trip to one of the closest island destinations to where we live.

27321

Recently, Dave and I closed escrow on a house in Riverside County with my mother-in-law. We are officially homeowners. I thought it might be interesting to note that our street number is the same as the name of the most expensive cocktail in the world served at the world renown Burj Al Arab Hotel. Just a fun fact.

According to the Guinness World Records 2009, "The Skyview Bar in the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, offers a cocktail named the '27321' that costs 27,321 Dirham ($7,439). The cocktail, an ultra-luxurious version of a traditional Old Fashioned, consists of 55-year-old Macallan whisky from Scotland, ice made from the water used at their distillery, a drop or so of exclussive dried fruit bitters, and passionfruit-scented sugar. It is stirred using a rod made from a Macallan cask, and served in an 18-karat gold glass produced in the French town of Baccarat." The buyer gets to keep the glass.

Corona Del Mar

Probably in the history of my extended family, this is the first time we were able to get representation from every family to show up for an outdoor BBQ. The Parks, Kangs, Lees and the Chos gathered for an evening of festivities at Corona Del Mar. It was great - fiance(e)s, boyfriends, girlfriends, friends and even neighbors joined in on the fun. Uncle Peter grilled some pork meat with rock salt! Delicious! And I have to say, my avocado and fresh tomato salsas were a hit.

My parents were in town. Here's a shot of my aunt, Susie (her daughter), me and my mom. My sister's family will be in town for John and Michelle's wedding at the end of September making it a true all-family reunion.



Jiea and I had a good discussion about recapping our family's ancestry with the grandparents. We want to take videos of grandma and grandpa telling our family's history and I'm hoping to blog about it. Soon to come!

Gonorrhea!

Have you ever seen the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer gets a job as a medical model for medical students to diagnose? Well, tomorrow morning... I will be diagnosing three medical models at USC (hopefully not gonorrhea) for my Advanced Health Assessment final :)

Here's a bit of the script:
Mt. Sanai Hospital. Kramer is on the table surrounded by med students.

Student #1: And are you experiencing any discomfort?

Kramer: Just a little burning during urination.

Student #1: Okay, any other pain?

Kramer: The haunting memories of lost love. May I? (signals to Mickey) Lights? (Mickey turns down the lights and Kramer lights a cigar) Our eyes met across the crowded hat store. I, a customer, and she a coquettish haberdasher. Oh, I pursued and she withdrew, then she pursued and I withdrew, and so we danced. I burned for her, much like the burning during urination that I would experience soon afterwards.

Student #1: Gonorrhea?!

Kramer: Gonorrhea!

The lab breaks out in spontaneous applause as Mickey turns up the lights and Kramer takes a bow.

The end is near

I organized a surprise party for four of the students in my nursing program who are graduating this summer. They are the first to finish the program (the accelerated Bachelor/Master of Science in Nursing) in our cohort that started together in September of 2007. Just knowing that they have finished is such an encouragement to me... the end is in reach!

Sports day

Spain vs. Netherlands 1-0 @Barney's Ltd.

Yesterday was the final game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This past month has been so much fun watching the futbol (soccer) games on ESPN3. We started with Round 1, cheering South Korea on to the round of 16 during early morning games starting at 4:30 am. On the days I was working, I'd give Dave a wake-up and even peak in on the game in some empty patient room with the TV on.

When S.Korea lost to Uruguay it was disappointing, but as we watched the drama of this year's World Cup unfold, we were more than entertained. Although feeling the void of the games now, this World Cup was special because we got to enjoy it together. Dave, an avid soccer fan and even player from childhood to college, was overjoyed to see me get into the sport this year.


After the World Cup Final, we headed to the Dodger stadium to catch my very first baseball game. The game lacked some tension... okay, a lot of tension, as the Dodgers shut the Cubs out 7-0.

The Veggies of my Labor

I've come a long way since my post last year in April about my first time gardening. This summer, I planted several zucchini plants, a bell pepper plant, strawberries, edamame and basil. I present to you the first fruits (or veggies) of my labor this season!

When we moved into Trinity three years ago, we were told that this little plot of soil would not produce anything good. I was told that our neighbors had attempted a couple times and were unsuccessful. Goes to show... with some effort, love and attention, the impossible can be possible. Cheesy... I know. But I'm so proud of myself!!