King Kong Rah Rah Rah

What Do I Deserve?

2010-06-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

[This is a post I started writing just a little over a year ago.]

Lately I've been thinking about those little things we do to treat ourselves. And since that grand holiday of Mother's Day recently passed, my ears were buzzing with phrases like "pamper Mother, she deserves it." And during the rest of the year, young mothers are urged to treat herself every once in a while... after all, she does some hard work.

But this concept of treating yourself, because you deserve it, is not just a motherhood thing - it extends to just about everyone. Workers treat themselves to Happy Hour. And at the end of the day, American diners treat themselves to dessert.

There's this conversation I've had more than once with my mother. It's usually about food and around the general idea that it's OK for me to go spend a little more money on food I like so I can eat more. I remember when I graduated from college and started working at a start-up in Austin, she told me that I should eat better and eat out more. Now that I'm done with school and working hard, she said, I can afford to and deserve to spend more money on food. Eat better. Eat healthier.

Sure. Who wouldn't agree that a hard working person deserves a little splurge now and then, right? Or maybe not?

I've come to learn that the US society is made up of a lot of people who believe they deserve and they expect and they are entitled to good things. But are we really? What makes us so deserving? What makes ME so deserving?

Biblically speaking, I believe that we are made in the image of God. Does that make us privileged? No, that makes us blessed. Or maybe you don't believe in God. You were born to parents or a parent. Does that make you privileged? Well, not necessarily. You were given life, and that is a blessing, but it doesn't automatically make you privileged to anything in particular.

If this is true, then what would my life be like if I really lived like I'm NOT entitled or deserving? Would I be more grateful of what I have? Would I waste less and want less?

Curry Me Japanese

2010-06-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

I've been in a curry mood, and it probably has something to do with the load of Japanese curry posts at Slashfood.

So for dinner I made some Japanese curry with pork from House Kokumaro Hot blocks, but I was afraid it'd be too hot for the kids so I made them a more generic curry from chicken broth and grocery store curry powder. Then the next day I went out to eat with my coworkers and had some pumpkin Thai curry.

Gee, I wonder if curry ice cream would be any good?

Should I?

2010-06-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking about starting up my blog again. I miss writing. Anyone out there?

Fresh Fried Rice

2009-02-26T00:06:00.000-08:00

Tonight for dinner I made fried rice. I love fried rice, and so do my kids. It's easy, tasty, and it's Chinese, which is a bonus because Chainwhip always wants me to cook more Chinese.

Traditionally, fried rice is made with leftovers. Leftover rice, leftover meat and leftover veggies. I typically make it with at least leftover rice and maybe leftover meat, but rarely leftover veggies. Tonight though, I didn't make it with leftover anything. It was fresh fried rice. And every time I make fresh fried rice, I feel a little guilty.

Is that odd? Why would I feel guilty for making a new pot of rice for fried rice?

But I do. Feel guilty. Like I cheated the fried rice.

Here's the quickie recipe for the fried rice I made tonight. Sorry, no pictures and no measurements.

Fresh Fried Rice

short grain rice (Yah, no purist talk. This is what I have unless you want brown fried rice, ick.)
water
frozen mixed veggies
2 garlic chicken sausages
2 skinny green onions
oil
1 egg, shaken not stirred (j/k... just mix it)
light soy sauce
sesame oil
salt

1. Cook your rice with enough time to let it cool and dry off a bit. Oh, use the water to cook your rice. haha.
2. Microwave steam your veggies in a bowl with a little bit of water. Today was the first time I opted for the microwave route, and it turned out fine.
3. Chop your sausages into small pieces. Chop your green onions in to really really small pieces.
4. Dribble some oil into your medium-high but not smokin' pan. Fry your sausages in the oil. This will flavor your oil. I usually use chopped garlic, but heck, my sausages had garlic in them. I also like to fry with bacon - of course then you won't need the oil.
5. Take out your sausages but leave the oil in the pan.
6. Loosen your rice, which should now be warm and no longer steamy, then dump it into your pan. Stir it a bit until the rice is steamy again.
7. Pour your beaten egg over the rice and stir the rice to cook the egg. I learned this from Iron Chef Chen Kenichi.
8. Dump in your microwaved, drained veggies and fried sausages. Stir to incorporate. Sounds so cook-book-y.
9. Dribble in some light soy sauce and a bit of sesame oil for flavor. Taste and add salt if it needs a kick because too much soy sauce will kill your fresh fried rice.
10. Turn off your heat and stir in your green onions.

Yum yum fresh fried rice.

Reduce Your Food Bills

2009-02-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

Don't look the other way, we're in a recession, and now is the time to buckle down on your budget because maybe you've lost your job or maybe you're on the precipice of losing your job. Boeing will be laying off 10,000 people, and whatever my cheery supervisor says to me, I can't just sit idly and assume my job is safe.

Chainwhip and I have already added some money saving items to our list, which has been growing since almost half a year ago. We cut our free spending, pushed back our Hawaii vacation to next year, and pretty soon we'll be living cable-less and perhaps landline-less.

But one change that has taken me the most effort is reducing our food bill. I stopped buying breakfast at work which saves at least $15 a week, and Johnny stopped buying lunch around work. That means, every morning, instead of hashbrowns, eggs and bacon or hashbrowns, bacon and donut (and coffee), I bring oatmeal, an apple, yogurt and tea. That's good for my overweight coworkers who use to longingly berate my breakfast choices, but boy do I miss my morning pork fat.

I'm also clipping coupons and spending more time staring at those grocery store ads with teeny tiny photos of grocery items while simultaneously keeping a mental list of future meals and costs between stores. It's tough, but Tuesday night I had $130 of groceries in my cart but saved over $40 with sales, coupons, double coupons pushing my bill to under $100. Hooray! But I still think a $100 grocery store trip is expensive.

Here are some KKRRR tips on saving on your food bills...

* Cut the Starbucks. I know you love your latte. I know you're addicted to caffine. But there are alternatives to feed your addiction like drip your own coffee or brew some tea.

* Cook cook cook. Get off your lazy butt and bring your lunch and cook your dinner more often. Not only will you spend less, but you can control what goes into your gut.

* Eat less meat. This is a hard one for you carnivores, but meat is an expensive item, so if you cut down your intake to maybe once a day, then you'll save $$ plus you'll live a little greener. Eggs are a good source of inexpensive protein.

* Entertain by potluck. Sure you'd like to be the generous host who serves everyone a spectacular prime rib roast dinner, but if it's going to set you back hundreds, then maybe you can do that roast and ask others to bring sides.

* Buy on sale and stock up on staples when sales are hot. Plan your meals around the sale items and buy meat in larger quantities and freeze them in smaller portions. Last week I bought a bevy of oatmeal (since I've upped my intake substantially) because they had buy one get one free deals. Cha-ching.

* Pair down your organic food buys. The benefits of organic food is high, but sometimes it might not be worth the cost. Check out this MSNBC article (particularly the 2nd page) to see if you can return to conventionally farmed foods for some items.

* Buy generic. You love your Honey Nut Cheerios, but I've found something better, Mom's Best Natural Honey Nut Toasty O's. Try the other less expensive brands, and you can probably find something that meets or even exceeds your taste bud needs.

Do you have any money saving food bill tips? I'd love to save more.

Work it Out

2009-01-07T09:16:00.000-08:00

I'm not big on new years resolutions. Probably because I don't remember what I resolve to do at the beginning of the year. I think a couple of years ago I resolved to get into shape and that's why I have a rotting gym membership at LA Fitness. It's a suspended account, so I'm not paying much monthly. But still, i'm giving money away while my body withers like a wet tissue.

Recently, I hurt my back three times on a little over a month. First shoveling the deck, then picking up my baby off the floor, and more recently, putting my baby down in his bed. For goodness sake! It's not like I'm lifting our gargantuan solid oak dining table! It just proved to me that my muscles and skeletal system are failing me in my daily routine. And that is not acceptable because this bod needs to get me through a few more decades.

So this year, I'm going to cast away my wishful gym membership for a more realistic home workout program. For Christmas, my brother gifted me the second edition of the New York City Ballet Workout DVD. (I already have the first DVD.)

I really like these ballet workout routines, but that's because I took ballet for 13 years. THIRTEEN YEARS! So that gives me a leg up on understanding the movements and awkward ballet positions. The video work and lighting are both stunning. The dancers, are of course, perfectly beautiful, and it's a nice to move to classical music instead of pounding techno. The routines are also fairly non-strenuous, certainly not very aerobic, so these DVDs are good for jump starting my new exercise habit... hopefully.

The downsides to this series is that the first DVD has some instructional mistakes and one routine is missing the second side. Also, for the ballet beginner, the workout might be somewhat frustrating or intimidating. The movements aren't all that difficult, but the form is challenging to emulate.

I also own a library of yoga DVDs by Yoga Zone.

There are a lot of conservative Christians out there who are leary about yoga for all the spiritual implications, but trust me, these DVDs do nothing to instigate the demons. For example, they instruct you in yoga breathing, ujjayi, by telling you to breathe like Darth Vader. Hmm, unless you consider Darth Vader a demon?

The yoga set is nice for variety, the scenery is beautiful, and the instructors are appropriately calm, informal and instructive. They also do a good job at giving alternative positions if you're not flexible. Average flexibility is good to start with, but I doubt my parents, who think Walk Away the Pounds is a great workout, would be able to do these routines.

And just last night I bought two Jillian Michaels kick-my-butt DVDs off of Amazon - The Complete Workout for Beginners - Frontside / Backside and 30 Day Shred.

I bought these because of the rave review from a favorite blogger, Linda of All & Sundry. She reviews 30 Day Shred on her workout site, Bodies in Motivation, and on a Mom site called Work It Mom where she also lists other favorite workout DVDs. We'll see how I like them.

So good luck to me! I don't necessarily want a ripped body, just one that will last me into my golden years.

Merry Christmas People...

2008-12-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

Gifting Extended Family

2008-12-10T23:46:00.000-08:00

Growing up, my family was never been huge on buying Christmas gifts. We did it, but it wasn't a huge deal - one inexpensive gift per person. It's even less of a deal with Chainwhip, but that's another story.

Every year for quite a few years now, I've been in charge of buying gifts for my cousins. I only have four... that celebrate Christmas. The other four in China don't really count since I've only met them once. Is that fair? And a few years ago I whittled down my cousin list two by enacting a no gifts over the age of 30 rule. Well, I also took into consideration the fact that those cousins hadn't bought my brother and I gifts for years anyway.

So now I'm left with just two lovely sun-kissed California cousins. Every year I hunker down with my computer and buy their gifts online. It's an interesting endeavor because I hardly know them. You'd think it'd be difficult to buy gifts for relatives you hardly know, but it's actually fun.

What do I get them? Well, I get them what I would want! Since I have no other criteria (except for maybe age appropriateness), the golden standard is me! And it's fun having the license to buy gifts for me, especially when the me is too cheapo to buy gifts for me-self.

Will they like the gifts? I don't know... and I'll probably never really know. Heck there's no pressure at all because they don't even live in my state, and I see them maybe once every 5 years. At best.

I have to admit, though, that I sent them gift cards for many years in a row. And maybe they enjoyed the gift cards more than the random gifts I buy them now, but it's not nearly as fun for me.

And in case you're curious, I purchased this year's gifts from UncommonGoods. They have lots of nifty goodies. So gals, if you're reading this, your gifts are on the way. Merry Christmas! I enjoyed gifting you :)

Neglect and Happenings

2008-12-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

I know I have been neglecting all of my faithful readers. Or at least my one self-professed faithful reader. (Thanks Karen!) I do have a backlog of interesting things to write about - health articles, food thoughts and more. But, alas, I am little motivated. I'm not sure why.

Maybe it's because I've been wrapped up in preparations for the holiday. We're planning on a real, live Christmas tree this year, and the dumpling and I have started crafting ornaments to decorate the tree.

Maybe it's because Mr. Happy has decided to have a little playtime IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING NIGHT ALMOST EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! And I'm tired.

Or maybe it's because I'm just a lazy bum.

As a consolation prize, here's a list of KKRRR happenings in the last few weeks.

* After being tired of disappointing restaurant, Chainwhip and I dined at the faithful Seastar Restaurant in Bellevue. And the food was divine.

* The parents returned from their Mediterranean cruise with exciting photos. My mother declared Corinth as her favorite destination - increasing my state of jealousy.

* Among the other fanciful ideas I often create, I've decided to amass a personal cookbook of favorite recipes. I haven't started.

* I tried really hard to be thankful on Thanksgiving Day, but I couldn't overcome the disappointment when the dumpling came down with a fever and we had to nix our plan to go to a friend's house for dinner. The following days were much better.

* We started to seriously look at a couple of adoption agencies. I'll choose one before the end of the year and start the application process.

* Christmas preparations have begun including crafting new decorations and brainstorming dishes for Christmas dinner. So far my mother and I have agreed that we want roast duck. We'll buy it.

* I listened to president elect Obama say way too many uh's this morning.

Happy December!

eBay IT!

2008-11-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big eBay-er because I don't shop well under pressure. I like to over research my items, and frugality and indecision make me a very bad fit for the eBay format. But there is an incredibly great deal going on right now that's worth sharing.

10% off using the coupon CHOLIDAYNOV2008 (ends Nov 30)

and add on to that...

25% Microsoft cashback using the eBay.com advertisement off of Live.com
... you must do a search (of anything) on live.com and click on the eBay ad
... you must use the Buy It Now option on eBay
... you must commit to purchase within 60 minutes of clicking on the ad
... you must pay with PayPal
... you must sign up with Microsoft Live after your first purchase
... you must start a new session if you want to make additional purchases with this offer

That being said, I bought Mr. Happy a very brown car seat that retails for $275, listed for $198 because the "fashion" is discontinued, with 10% off made it $178.20, and in 60 days when I get my cash back, the seat will have dented me only $127.70. And free shipping to boot.

Not bad eh? Time to make those Christmas gift purchases.

And enjoy this fan video of Weird Al's eBay song...

Jealousy

2008-11-05T15:06:00.001-08:00

My parents are in Istanbul, and I'm incredibly jealous. Turkey has been in my top 3 countries to visit for over a decade.

And they're going on a cruise which means they'll end up in one of my top 3 places to revisit, Barcelona.

They'd better have fun.

Post Election Thoughts

2008-11-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

Eight years ago I was living in Texas and voting on what we now know as a monumental presidential election. Chainwhip and I often do not vote for the same candidates - negating each others votes. Hindsight is 20/20 and the only reason why I feel confident saying that eight years ago, I was right and Chainwhip was wrong.

This year I was less sure about my vote, but once again Chainwhip and I voted our opposite ways. But we both pray that this time around, I'm right again. And like many others, we're excited about change and feel honored to live during such a monumental time in our country.

I also hope that Mr. Happy is not a prophet because he started crying at the beginning of Obama's speech and didn't stop until the speech was over. Really, as if he was on cue.

Calling all delinquent flossers

2008-11-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Do you lie to your dental hygenist about your flossing frequency? Do you feel the guilt and plaque building up between your teeth? I have some inspiring words for all you delinquent flossers.

I have a tumultuous flossing history. In high school, I was such an avid flosser that my dentist declared that I had some of the cleanest teeth he'd seen. Of course that was after he had cleaned my fathers teeth. In college I got lazy with just about everything in the oral care corner, and it's been a struggle since to get back to my regular flossing days.

At my last cleaning, the hygenist gave me a new flossing implement.

Now I've used many flossing aids from those reusable ones where you wind the floss around the handle to the many disposable varieties, but the Reach Access Flosser beats them all by a smile... harhar. Since I got my free pink floss on a long stick, I've been a model flosser! And now I don't have to feel guilty when I tell my daughter she should floss her teeth everyday.

If I'm a flossing criminal then Chainwhip is on death row. He got a fancy flosser too, but he has yet to use his. I told him that the new flosser is fun, and it is, but I think he's skeptical.

Get one for free from the Reach Access website and see for yourself! (If you need two then they also have a coupon.)

Famous Me!

2008-11-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine, Yield to Pedestrian, has been indulging my desire for blog fame by posting some King Kong Rah's on her websites! So you too can inflate the better blogger me by taking a look...

First she liked my first Good Books review on King Kong Dumplings to add it to her Extra (Hour)dinary Parenting site.

And she also interviewed me and posted some glowing remarks. The post is titled, Have a Blog Title You Can Be Proud of. I think my head will soon explode.

It's wonderful that all of you read my gibberish, but it's fan-ta-bu-lous when someone likes my stuff enough to put it on their own websites, especially when her sites are so much more well written and interesting than mine.

Thanks YTP. It's good to be out of our adolescence.

Retro Birth Certificate

2008-10-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

My father showed me a copy of my birth certificate and some items caught my attention First is the classic typewriter look. I love how the letters are imperfectly imprinted and how they aren't quite aligned perfectly. I also noticed my mother's youthful signature where the name is actually legible.

But even more retro are the fields and answers on the certificate. My father's "USUAL OCCUPATION" and "KIND OF BUSINESS OR INDUSTRY" are listed but there are no fields for my mother's occupation and workplace. But more interesting are the boxes for both of my parents "COLOR OR RACE" where the typewriter answer reads "YELLOW".

Yes folks, my parents are "YELLOW". Perhaps one day our children will gawk at "ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER".

Disgruntled Diner

2008-10-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

I've been working (in my head) on a post about the latest eatery that Chainwhip and I visited. It's a gastropub called Quinn's on Capitol Hill. Simultaneously (in my head) I've been crafting another post about my string discontented restaurant experiences. Just a few days ago though, I lost all my cell phone photos of our Quinn's date/dinner, so I'm free to combine these two posts into one gigantic disgruntled dump.

Quinn's was recommended by Chainwhip's metrosexual-esque boss who had also recommended an earlier restaurant which we mostly enjoyed, so I had high hopes for Quinn's.

Quinn's had all the ingredients for a foodie excitement... a trendy challenging menu, chic location and clientèle, proven owners with a successful restaurant and the recommendation from another food loving friend. Unfortunately, it did not deliver. Our meal of "must have" french fries, beef tongue hash, rabbit gnocchi, and sweatbreads with creamed corn had many wrongs and little rights. If I had to choose a dish to eat again, it would be the fries. Sad. And if given the choice to return, I would opt to take my chances on an uncharted establishment. Very sad - especially considering their fun menu.

My Quinn's experience put the cherry on top of my series of unhappy dining experiences. What's up with Seattle restaurants? They're expensive with many many misses.

When I go to a new place, I ask always ask myself the same questions...

1. Does the food taste good?
2. Is it worth the price tag?
3. Would I order it again?

Then there are the secondary questions...

4. Is the meal consistently good?
5. Is the menu interesting?
6. Is the service good?
7. Does the restaurant have good ambiance?
8. Do I want to return?

And with these Seattle restaurants, they often fail at 1-4 and sometimes 8. Inconsistency with taste within a meal is a bear because a good restaurant will deliver goodness with every dish. And if the consistency is not there, then I'm less willing to pay the price tag for the meal.

Maybe because I get out less nowadays and because it's quite a task to schedule and pay a babysitter for my time out, my expectations for the evening's meal is much higher than before. Or maybe my taste buds have become more selective. Or maybe I'll never be able to shed my Texas born and bred stomach.

I miss you cheap, fatty, smoky barbecue! Who knows when I will see you again? My stomach longs for you.

Love, KKRRR

Jeans Jeans Jeans

2008-10-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of months ago I chided Chainwhip for having an inordinate number of jeans. Then I off and bought two new pairs for my collection which brings me up to three that I wear regularly and two much less frequently. That's five pairs of jeans folks.

What is it about jeans that makes us want to buy more and more and more? They're unforgiving pants when you gain weight (unless you buy the stretchy kind), the take extra power to dry in the dryer, and they can cost a small fortune (though I buy the cheap variety).

I only know of one person who refuses to wear jeans because he's into soft pants. You know who you are! And I know of one family who I spied a very tall stack of folded jeans in their bedroom. It was at least 10 pairs of jeans, and I assumed they all belonged to the husband since the wife is very fashion forward and I doubt she'd wear that many jeans in a week. Maybe you know who you are?

So just out of curiosity, you can answer my poll to the right. How many pairs of jeans do you own?

Btw, you can thank Chainwhip for the gratuitous shot of my flat behind.

Dining with Babies

2008-10-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

It's difficult dining at a restaurant with a toddler and a baby. At least now the dumpling is fairly proficient at self-feeding, but Mr. Happy, being the mini-bite eater that he is, usually needs some coddling during bigger people mealtime whether we're at home or out. This means we must do the parental mealtime hot potato (aka Mr. Happy) dance, or if only one parent is present, then it's the baby knee balance while simultaneously eating from afar act.

To ease the eating out experience, we frequent family friendly establishments like Chinese buffet house Chengdu and the dumpling's favorite, Pomegranate Bistro. Although both restaurants are great, the child-friendly good eats establishments are just a very small portion of restaurants available to the non-baby toting crowd.

Now someone has come up with a novel solution! It's called The Family Dining Series, and it begins with three hot restaurants offering an eating experience for the whole family. Reservations are on a first come first served basis from 5-6:30pm. Thank Red Tricycle and Hsiao-Ching Chou's newest baby, Future Foodies of America for this series.

Now you can save your babysitter money and feed your kids duck confit and dungeness crab salad.

Family Dining Series

Tuesday, Nov. 11 - Tilth
1411 N. 45th St.
206-633-0801
www.tilthrestaurant.com
The regular dinner menu and a few special children's items will be available. Call Tilth for reservations and mention Red Tricycle.

Tuesday, Dec. 9 - Cremant
1423 34th Ave.
206-322-4600
www.cremantseattle.com
The regular dinner menu and a few special children's items will be available. Call Cremant for reservations and mention Red Tricycle.

Tuesday, Jan. 13 - TASTE Restaurant
1300 First Ave.
206-903-5291
www.tastesam.com
The regular dinner menu and a few special children's items will be available. Call TASTE for reservations and mention Red Tricycle.

When Therapy (Almost) Fails

2008-10-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

Depression is a very invasive mental illness. I've never had clinical depression, but I know many people who have dealt with depression on various levels.

A professor of psychiatry wrote a good NYTimes article titled When All Else Fails, Blaming the Patient Often Comes Next. He gives three cases where patients were blamed by professionals for the continuation of their disease. All three patients eventually found relief from their mental disorders when given the correct therapy.

It can be extremely frustrating for friends and family dealing with loved ones who have untreated depression, but apparently, it can be frustrating for therapists too. Sometimes finding the right drugs or therapies or both to treat a patient can be quite elusive, so some therapists may start to escalate the patient's diagnosis or worse, declare that the patient is unwilling to be well.

I can understand this tendency to blame the patient because depression can cause lethargy and self doubt - both of which can make treatment or steps to resolution much more difficult. Then those of us on the outside are struck determining whether the incompliant behavior is a result of depression or a personality flaw. It seems like persistence with therapy is the key.

Tacos on the Run

2008-10-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

I love Mexican food. And by Mexican food, I mean Mexican food. I'm not really into TexMex or CaliMex. Well, I like them, but I love MexMex much more.

The gal at Cook & Eat went out on a taco truck crawl and took some fabulous photos of tasty taco truck tacos around the Seattle area. Of course one can only eat so many tacos, so hopefully there will be a part 2 to her experience.

If I were the me without kids, I'd feel inspired and go out on my own taco truck crawl and take yummy photos to tempt you all. But alas, a dream is all I have. I'll have to add "taco truck crawl" to my "when the kids are older" list.

Time to take a nap and dream about tacos.

Read a novel... lose some weight

2008-10-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting medical study to help you exercise your new found judgment skills on the veracity of medical trials.

A Duke Children's Hospital study has shown that when given a healthy lifestyle promoting novel to read, girls 9 to 13 years old reduced their BMI by almost one percent over the span of 6 months. The novel, #6 in the Beacon Street Girls Series called Lake Rescue, is about girls who take an outdoor adventure.

My source for this study is a Parent Dish post which sources The Daily Mail.

Here are some relevant questions you can ask yourself when you read these articles - although the articles don't answer all of these questions.

* What was the purpose of the study?
* What is BMI and how is it an important indicator of health?
* What percentage change in BMI is considered significant?
* Why did the researchers choose this age group?
* What are the relevant characteristics of girls? Were they all obese? And by what measurement?
* How many girls were in this study?
* Was there a control group of similar girls for comparison?
* How did the researchers choose who got the book to read and who did not?
* Were the control girls given anything to read? Or nothing at all?
* How many girls were compliant with reading the book?
* What were the criteria in choosing the book Lake Rescue?

The UK newspaper article also mentions that this is a "prospective interventional study." There are multitudes of types of medical studies, and understanding the different types will help you grasp the benefits and negatives surrounding the study at hand.

Prospective means that when that information gathered for this study has not yet happened in the girls lives when the study begins. For example, I might ask someone to drink chicken soup the next time she gets sick so I can measure the effects of chicken soup on a cold. In contrast, a retrospective study gathers information that has already happened. In that case, I would ask someone if they have ever drank chicken soup while they had a cold and how long it took for them to recover.

An interventional study means the participants were given a specific treatment, in this case a book.

I hope this helps, now go give your kids a healthy inducing book to read.

Food Round-Up

2008-10-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

HAINAN CHICKEN RICE

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Mark Bittman, the Minimalist, of the NYTimes made Hainan chicken. I LOVE Hainan chicken. You can watch his video or read the article.

Image from Wikipedia

I had planned on testing out his recipe, but my brother beat me to it. He said it didn't taste like the Hainan chicken he knew. We both agreed that Bittman's recipe is probably too simple.

But I'm still craving Hainan chicken rice. Does anyone have a good recipe?

BAKING BACON

I posted earlier about my recent food experience in relation to my new church small group. Well, that baked potato dinner that we went to, I brought the bacon. And instead of frying it up in a pan like I normally do, I decided to bake it. I hear that's how the restaurants do it.

Basically, you lay your bacon on a rimmed baking pan and stick it in a 400F oven for 10-15 minutes. I decided to elevate the bacon on a cookie sheet to let the fat drip away from the bacon, but I think that increased my cooking time because the bacon came out a little more limp than I would like.

While looking at drool inducing bacon photos, I happened upon a nice post on how to cook crispy bacon three different ways. I'm drooling. You should go just to see the bacon photos.

I'll be baking bacon again this weekend for a retreat we'll be going too. Hopefully the bacon will be crispier this time around.

DINNERS READY

Dinners Ready is one of those places where you can go and assemble your meals to bring home and cook or freeze for later. It's not cheap, and you have to make a reservation for a time slot at their kitchen. I wanted to try this concept out, but I never did find the time.

Then I Dinners Ready does take-out and delivery. They do all the work and you just take home your meals or have them delivered to your home. I can do that! I can make an online order! I can receive a delivery! So I did.

I ordered 6 meals, and I've cooked and eaten four of them so far. Shrimp carbonara fettuccine, chicken & spinach cannelloni, kalbi pork chops with stir fry vegetables, and Rocky Mountain flat iron steaks with baked beans.

This isn't a cheap option. I got 4-portion meals and they were really like 4 reasonable portions for about $25. And remember you still have to cook the food. I found that they seem to gift you with an overabundance of sauce or side dish while the meat portions are fairly small. But then again you really shouldn't eat all that meat right?

The organization of the food and the ease of cooking were both excellent. The food is divvied into freezer bags, and each meal is contained in one or two gallon sized freezer bags. It was really easy to store, freeze and thaw. The cooking was simple and mostly clear, although I did use some discretion with the amount of sauce used for both the pasta and the stir fry.

The taste was not bad. They make decent home cooked dishes, but I wouldn't rate them as restaurant worthy. Some of the dishes were overly sweet - kalbi pork chops and the stir fry sauce and the baked beans.

Would I buy again? Maybe. It was handy to have a complete pre-planned meal in my freezer, and it was fun to cook and anticipate the meal. But it was also expensive and a crap shoot with taste.

If you're want frozen meals without the preservatives or you're fairly new to cooking, Dinners Ready might be a good match for you.

Thanks for reading my food round-up. Happy eating.

Snake Oil for Everyone!

2008-09-30T13:14:00.001-07:00

Here in America, the term "snake oil" is used to represent misleading cure-alls. In China, we actually had to live through a real snake oil pitch after a tour and hike through Huang San (Yellow Mountain). They rubbed snake oil all over our legs and proclaimed that the reptilian extract could cure a litany of ailments. Sha-right.

The snake oil claim reminds me of how important clinical trials are in our understanding of what works to benefit our health and what does not. In the epidemiology course I took a couple of years ago, we read about the different types of studies and why researchers would choose one over another. There are a lot more subtleties to these studies than meets the eye, certainly a lot more than those marketing campaigns advertise.

The NYTimes has a good article that boils down some of the principles of medical studies and clinical trials, Searching for Clarity: A Primer on Medical Studies.

The article states that there are three important principles when designing a study that will reach the medical truth.

1. Compare like with like

"Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the National Women’s Health Network, has a favorite example of how easy it is to be fooled. Study after study found that women taking estrogen had less heart disease than women who did not. But, Ms. Pearson says, it turns out that women who faithfully take any medication for years — even a sugar pill — are different from women who don’t. The compliant pill-takers tend to be healthier, perhaps because they follow doctor’s orders."

When designing a study it is a laborious process to match outcomes appropriately so you can negate factors such as the one stated above. A good study may ensure that the healthy will be compared with the healthy, or smokers with smokers, or young with young... etc. Well, first they have to decide which of the millions of factors might actually require this kind of effort.

2. The bigger the group studied, the more reliable the conclusion.

This point involves a bit of knowledge about statistical analysis.

"... the real result of a study is not a single number, like a 20 percent reduction in risk. Instead, it’s a range of numbers that represent a so-called margin of error, like a 5 to 35 percent reduction in risk. The larger the sample size, the smaller the margin of error. Small studies have large uncertainties in results, making it difficult to know where the truth lies."

And we know that we'll never see margins of error advertised with the product claim.

3. Consider the strength of the supporting evidence separate from the study

The example given for this point is interesting. A professor shows data to his students. The data seems to indicate that the studied factor helps patients to overcome illness, though by a small margin. By raising their hands, the students show that they believe the study, but when the professor revels that the factor is prayer, hands fall.

"...there is no plausible scientific explanation of why prayer should have that effect. When no such explanation or evidence exists, the bar is higher. It takes more clinical trial evidence to make a result credible."

So the next time you read a claim, like a certain yogurt will help you lower your cholesterol, think like a skeptic. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Or you can do your own fact finding. Chances are the studies they use to make those claims are sitting in journals that may be accessible through the library. Then you can have some fun reading.

Mismatched Changes

2008-09-27T22:26:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are actually viewing this blog, you can see that things are different. I got a new template. It's pretty. Pretty? Now my blog looks more like it belongs under a more elegant name like "The Plum Journal" instead of King Kong Rah Rah Rah. By the way, The Plum Journal is the name of my old old website.

Despite the mismatch, I may keep this look for a while because this blog was due for a change. If you like it or if you hate it, let me know. Maybe a more gender neutral color like orange would be more appropriate?

Is it me? Or is it the Chinese?

2008-09-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Our family finally started going to a Mars Hill "community group." For the unindoctrinated, most Christian churches have some form of middle of the week small forum gatherings to discuss life and the Bible and such in a more intimate setting. In the past, these were slightly larger and called fellowships, but today they're more popularly known as small groups. And at Mars Hill, because they're cool and all, they decided to call them community groups.

We're still attending our good 'ole Chinese church fellowship regrettably named Happy Fish. I was not in attendance when this name was chosen. We love our Happy Fishers, but we really need to get to know more people at our church, Mars Hill.

Anyway, that's a long introduction.

So our new group is different in many ways. At first glance they are made up of folks about the same age as we are, except for a couple of duly noted more seasoned individuals. Most live on the eastside, so that means a lot of Microsofties, tech professionals and suburbanites. But there are some marked differences.

First, they are not Chinese. If I was the me in my undergraduate college years, I would cheer for me for propagating a multi-cultural community. But now that I'm beyond my more romantic years and colored by attending an all Asian fellowship for 7 years, I'm not so self congratulatory.

Also I noticed that during discussions, the gals really dominate. This is different from HF where discussions are generally like pulling hairs and the gals make up 50% or less of the sharing. Although I'm not sure what the percentage is when I'm not around.

This new community group also eats dinner before discussion time. It seems that it's usually some sort of voluntary potluck system - some people bring dishes for everybody else? And these people... I'm not sure these people know how to eat. The first dinner went to was baked potatoes, and people brought the fixin's. And the dinner this week was labeled Italian, so we ate lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, salad and bread.

Where are the other fun dishes? Granted we're suppose to be Jesus lovers and talk about Jesus, but that doesn't mean we can't eat creative before talking Jesus.

I guess there are many things I'll have to adjust to with this new group, and I'll have to put on my game face and make new friends. Well, they're all nice, so maybe it won't be so hard.