K A T E M I X

Snow!

2010-12-12T09:09:00.000-08:00

Woke up to ~ 2 inches of snow outside our door! I know this fascination will be replaced with dread once I have to drive to work. In the meantime, I am in love with feeling like I'm in a snow globe.

Why did I take Latin in high school?!?

2010-10-03T00:31:00.000-07:00

I love my Latin teacher (RIP Ms. G) but some days at work I really regret taking Latin instead of Spanish. Maybe I should re-title this entry to "Life lesson of the day." Today's lesson is people aren't always sincere when they say "Do you need help? Let me know if you do." Because what happened when I asked for your assistance... you CLOSED your door on me!!! Hahah Hey what gives?! I thought we're on the same team. I know you can speak the language well but why do you taunt me like that! Haha. Counseling people is hard enough as is. It does not help when neither party understands each other. Language barrier, you're a !@#$! I am determined to learn Spanish!. By this time next year, I am going to be so fluent in Spanish, I'll speak English with an accent!

Running in circle

2010-05-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

Despite the crimes I've been hearing on the news lately, I still love St. Louis. I love the many things the city offers and made available to encourage people to be out and about (particularly their parks). I love having the park literally across the street from me. When I was in Miami, I used to just stick to running on treadmills and didn't think I would be able to manage outside nor will I like it either. But I've been running outside and love every bit of it especially running with someone. Today's run was awesome. We circled the whole Forest Park. I feel like I could keep going and going. Looking forward hitting the pavement again!

The Cove

2010-04-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

In Vietnamese tradition, families gathered annually to remember their ancestors that have passed away. At one of such gatherings before I left Vietnam, little old me stood by and watched on as a cow was killed for the festivities. However we justify the killings, animal slaughtering is horrifying to watch. It makes the hairs on my back stand. The other day, for whatever reason, I turned on Oprah (I still find her annoying... don't know why). She had a special Earth Day show and the dolphin activist, producer and director for "The Cove" was on. They showed clips of the documentary. I've never seen a horror movie that ever managed to disturbed me the same way this documentary did.

Bronx Paradox

2010-03-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

I read an interesting article in the NY Times today. At the last FASEB conference in New Orleans, I attended a seminar on the same food insecurity issue. The particular group of researchers presenting at the conference talked specifically about food insecurity post-Katrina. I don't remember if they demonstrated a link between food insecurity and obesity, but there is no denying poverty and food insecurity go hand in hand. When people hear the phrase "food insecurity", I wonder what they think? Not knowing where your next meals will be coming from, when you'll get to eat or how you're going to afford it etc... A prolonged period of not having access to healthy foods, I guess its easy to picture a frail person and not an obese person. No matter how you look at it, expect poorer health and quality of life.
The local government are channeling money to create access to healthy foods, change behaviors and etc. All of which are good intentions but from what I learn at the conference... chances are it won't work. My head is shooting in all directions with ideas. I am going to revisit this topic when it a little less convoluted.

Update: I would love to be on the Bronx Paradox task force!

Fresh homemade yogurt

2010-03-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

About a year ago, I started making my own yogurt at home. With school, internship and moving... I got lazy. Now that I am all settled, the yogurt shop is up and running again. Yogurt is a great source of probiotics. In the world of bacteria, probiotics make a classic case of good guys kicking bad guys' bootays. They play an important role in altering the microflora composition in our GI tract - good guys outnumbering the bad guys. One proposed mechanism is that most probiotics are lactic acid producers that also produce antibacterial substances called bacteriocins (nisin and lactacin B). The lactic acid producers claim their territory in your GI by lowering the pH forcing their unruly neighbors to move out. The bacteriocins are like silver bullets to werewolves...taking out the bad guys by entering their cell wall or interfering with cell wall biosynthesis.
Well the saying, "Easy as pie"? Homemade yogurt is easier than pie... and definitely easier than me trying to explain how probiotics do their thang. The taste is incredible.You will never want to go back to store bought yogurt.
All you need a handy dandy yogurt maker such as the one from Euro Cusine but you can do with a plain old heating pad, some yogurt starter (also Euro Cusine brand or the Yogourmet), and milk. There are actually many blogs about making yogurt at home with very detail instructions so I won't be delving into that.