Chong Yao Beng 葱油饼 (Chinese Green Onion Pancakes)

Every so often, I feel homesick and start craving everything I don't usually eat. Even bao (chinese buns) of all types begin to sound appealing. There's something about making my own chinese food from scratch with a deficiency of proper ingredients that makes the process more worthwhile and the final product yummier than anything store-bought.

Since so many people have asked, this is as good a time as any to post up the recipe. Keep in mind, it's more of a guideline as opposed to a true recipe since amounts of water and flour are more of a ratio as opposed to an amount.
Chong Yao Beng
(approx - 2:1 ratio of flour to hot water)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup hot water
A dash of salt
1 cup of chopped green onions/scallions
Sesame oil

Place flour and salt in a bowl. Heat water until a low simmer is achieved. Pour 1 cup into the flour mixture and mix with a spoon. The water helps the dough begin to form gluten before you even start mixing/kneading. When the dough begins to form, you can abandon the spoon and use your hands. Add more flour or water depending on the wetness/dryness of the dough. You want it to hold together without being overly sticky. This is a very forgiving recipe.

Tear off a small ball and roll out into 4-5 inch circle. Rub with a little sesame oil and scatter green onions on top of the circle. Roll up, pressing lightly to make a tight tube. Starting at one end, curl up the tube into a snail shape.Taking the palm of your hand, flatten the coil into about 3/4 cm thickness. Some of the onions may poke through the dough as it gets thinner. Don't worry about this too much. The thicker the pancake, the longer it'll take to pan fry and the chewier the texture.

When all of the pancakes are formed, heat a nonstick skillet with about a tablespoon of oil. If you want a nicer color, use sesame oil. Vegetable oil will give less color but is healthier. Panfry until cooked through, flipping the pancake after about 3-4 minutes. The dough will begin to look clear before turning opaque as it cooks. Continue until all of the pancakes have been cooked. You can also form the pancakes and fry them as you go.

If you want to make a dipping sauce, I combined a bit of chili-garlic sauce, sesame oil, fried scallions leftover from the pancakes, soy sauce, pepper to taste.

Vegetative Bodies

Vegetation may not be good on heart valves, but in buns, I think they sound extraordinarily good. If I were a piece of rising dough possessing a heart, I don't think I would mind getting Libman-Sacks endocarditis and covering my valves with a mixture of celery, carrots, mushrooms, ham and garlic.

After making Phenomenon's 1 Bowl 1 Hour Dinner Rolls for our weekly Regency Sunday dinner, I couldn't help but think of variations, of fillings, of making it sweet and perhaps chocolatey.

The base of these filled rolls is an amazingly easy yeasted bread. The amount of active yeast doesn't add a strong flavor but allows the rise to occur quickly and fast enough for a last minute addition to any meal when you're strapped for time and can't wait 2+ hours for the proper rise to occur. The filling is not overwhelming, a simple mix of sauteed veggies, pretty much anything you have on hand, although I think next time, a bit more garlic would make for an amazing filling.
1 Bowl 1 Hour Dinner Rolls with Veggie Filling

Dough
1 1/2 cups of warm water (110 degrees F - slightly warm to the touch out of the tap)
1 tbsp instant yeast
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour (I used all purpose)

Filling
2 cups of any minced, sauteed vegetables you have on hand
I used (minced, finely):
A handful of baby carrots
1 stalk of celery
3 white button mushrooms
Cured Virginia ham
garlic, salt, pepper to taste

Topping
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp dry or fresh parsley
3 tbsp olive oilIn a measuring cup or small bowl, mix together warm water, sugar and yeast. Allow to stand for about 5-10 minutes until frothy.

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Make a well in the middle and add yeast mixture and oil. Mix until combined. Then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and shiny. Form dough into a ball, placed in a lightly oiled bowl and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. I preheated my oven to 200 degrees F, turned it off and let the dough rise in the warm oven.

While the dough is making its first rise, mince all of the vegetables and saute in a little oil until soft. Let cool until ready for filling. Also saute minced garlic, parsley, and oil and set aside to brush on top of the buns.When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and shape into an 8x12 rectangle. Cut into 24 pieces. I found it easier to separate each piece of dough as I cut it so that they wouldn't stick back together and become a giant ball again.

To form a bun, take one of the pieces of dough, flatten into a 3-4 inch circle, place a tablespoon of the filling in the center and pinch the sides together to seal the bun closed. Repeat until all 24 buns are formed.Lightly oiling a 9x13 pan, place the buns in rows of 4x6 to rise a second time. Drizzle garlic/oil/parsley over the top of the buns. While they rise for another 20 min or until doubled in size, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake for 13-15 minutes at 400 F (I baked them for 13 minutes, then again, it's naturally hot in the Caribbean without the addition of an oven).Devour when ready. =D

Monkeying Around

Pictures of gram negative bacilli oddly bring to mind rich, buttery, cinnamon sugar covered balls of dough. Granted, the first thing to pop into my head when I first started taking notes on Fusobacterium necrophorum was necrophiliacs... however, what with medical pathophysiology being compared to food, I only thought it would be a good idea to post up something sweet, like ketone breath, and buttery, like the pools of liquid adipose (perhaps I shan't go one), and yeasty.

At the end of last semester as one of my first forays into the world of yeast and breads, I came across Smitten Kitchen's monkey bread recipe. It looked gorgeous, covered in melted butter and sugar and cinnamon, like a giant cinnamon roll without the effort and I couldn't resist. It was gone in less than an hour, took much longer, but the time to make the bread was worth every second, every minute and every harrowing hour of rising.

Monkey Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Dough
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) unsalted butter, divided (2 tablespoons softened for the pan, 2 tablespoons melted for the dough)
1 cup milk, warm (around 110 degrees)
1/3 cup water, warm (also around 110 degrees)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise, instant or bread machine yeast
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
2 teaspoons table salt

Brown Sugar Coating
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick or 4 ounces), melted

Cream Cheese Glaze
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 brick of cream cheese)
2 cups powdered sugar, plus extra if needed
1/4 cup milk, plus extra if needed
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make dough: In a large measuring cup, mix together warm water, 1 tbsp sugar, and yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to make sure the yeast is alive and producing gas.

Mix flour, rest of the 1/4 cup of sugar, and salt in large bowl. Make a well in the flour, then add yeast mixture, milk and melted butter to well. Using wooden spoon, stir until dough begins to come together. Turn out onto lightly floured work surface and knead until dough is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes. Shape into taut ball and proceed as directed.

Coat large bowl with a tablespoon of oil (like canola). Place dough in bowl and roll around in oil to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in warm oven until dough doubles in size (about an hour)

To prepare the bundt pan - coat in the 2 tbsp of softened butter.

Make brown sugar coating: Place melted butter in one bowl. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a second one.

Form the bread: Flip dough out onto floured surface and gently pat into an 8-inch square. Cut dough into 64 pieces.

Roll each piece of dough into ball. Working one at a time with a fork, dip balls in melted butter, allowing excess butter to drip back into bowl. Roll in brown sugar mixture, then layer balls in Bundt pan, staggering seams as you build layers.

Place pan in warm oven until dough balls are puffy and have risen 1 to 2 inches from top of pan, 50 to 70 minutes.

Bake bread: Take pan out of oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake until top is deep brown and caramel might begin to bubble around edges, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out on platter.

Make glaze: Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add milk and a cup of powdered sugar. Mix until smooth, adding more powdered sugar to taste and until desired consistency is reached. Add vanilla at the end and incorporate.

Drizzle the glaze over warm monkey bread, letting it run over top and sides of bread. Serve warm.

Men and Microbes

Nothing better than a good trashy romance to relax and empty my brain while releasing the stress of sitting in class for an extra hour on a lovely warm Friday afternoon in the middle of the Caribbean. After all, a little laughter is good for you, especially when every medical disease known to man is lovingly compared to food.

Blueberry babies. Cottage cheese candidiasis. Fishy odors. Strawberry tongue. Rice water stool. Nutmeg liver. Thick creamy discharge.

It's a wonder that any student remains a faithful foodie after such eloquent educational terms. Which reminds me of the elegant hand authors have in describing the human body. After all, what woman wouldn't swoon and fall head over heels for a man possessing a "throbbing wand of manhood" or "quivering engorged man mast?" Okay, okay, so perhaps it was a little over the top, but after covering STDs in med micro, "her moist, wet folds, quivering like the open petals of a flower, ready to be pollinated, flushed pink...." (Ahem... I think we all get the point.) means something completely different

Let's just say that there are a few things in life that should be left alone. No descriptions necessary, thank you very much.

6 Points to Live By

Well, I suppose things make much more sense now. My life defined in 6 points. Granted, the difference here is that her girlfriends and boyfriends have two completely different views of her while in my case, it would have to be old friends and new acquaintances. But given the overall CTA (cue-to-action) as she puts it, I think I'm better off staying as I am.

Life would be a terrible place if everyone pretended to be cruel and petty merely to fend off unwanted attention from the other sex. Anyway, what would be the fun in repressing one's own personality? Where's the gain?

I'm Contagious

A little late for Block 2 for those who are currently in their 3rd semester at AUC and taking Med Micro, but life always needs a few happy stories about infectious microbes and the lovely diseases they can cause. ^_^

Med Micro Stories Part 2 (Yes, I realize that Part 1 doesn't really exist... well... it does.. in my head. ;)

A pair of blue pigeon twins living in a crypt lined with silver and black chronically breathed spores.

A pair (paired sera) of blue (Calcofluor Alcian blue) pigeon (from pigeon droppings, nature) twins (twins are the same, monomorphic) living in a crypt (cryptococcus neoformons) lined with silver (silver stain) and black - (ink is black - india ink) chronically (chronic meningitis) breathed (respiratory disease first sign of infection) spores. (transmitted by aerosolized spores)

After Naegler swam in some foul water, he ran a high fever, hallucinating that the taste of warm water gave him a headache.

After naegler (naegleria) swam in some foul (fowleri) water (contaminated water/lakes), he ran a high fever, hallucinating (olfactory hallucinations) that the taste (taste alterations) of warm water (hot tubs) gave him a headache (intense prefrontal headache)

When walking in CA, it’s a bad idea to cross small animals or they’ll bite your buns.

When walking in CA (California encephalitis), it's a bad (bad - negative ss RNA) idea to cross (la Crosse encephalitis) small animals (small animals - chipmunks/squirrels) or they'll bite your buns (bunyavirus)

It’s a good idea for sick children to wear togas when riding horses on the eat and west side of Venezuela.

It's a good (ss pos sense RNA) idea for sick (immunocompromised) children (children > adult for symptoms/severity) to wear togas (Togaviridae) when riding horses (horses - equine encephalitis ) on the east (EEE) and west (WEE) side of Venezula (VEE)

Flavaflav is getting old and black and has high BP from battling birds in St. Louis.

Carissa's st. louis/west nile/jpn encephalitis - flavaflav (flaviridae) is getting old (elderly most severely affected) and black (african Amer - increased risk) and has high BP (hypertension - increased risk) from battling birds (reservoir) in St. Louis

As Jesus Christ hung naked and weak with a white sheet on the cross, his visions, speech and personality changed before he died.

As jesus christ (JC Virus) hung naked (naked dsDNA) and weak (progressive weakness) with a white (loss of white matter - myelin) sheet on the cross (cross BBB), his vision, speech and personality changed (visual, speech, personality changes) before he died (lifethreatening disability --> death over weeks/months)

Paralyzed and naked, sabin protected salk.

Paralysed (asymmetric flaccid paralysis) and naked (naked ss pos RNA), sabin (live vaccine - shed virus to protect others - herd immunity) protected salk (inactivated)

Playing tennis without oxygen positively leads to smirks, sweats and spasms.

Playing tennis (tennis racket appearance - bacillus - form spores) without oxygen (strict anaerobe) positively (gram pos) leads to smirks (trismus - lockjaw; risus sardonicus - sardonic smile), sweats (sweating, drooling, irritability) and spasms (back spasms)

Doing acid with armadillos in the cold can lead to two things.

[Doing acid (acid fast cell wall) with armadillos (armadillo - similar disease to humans) in the cold (like lower temp such as skin/nasophaarynx) can lead to two things (2 forms - tuberculoid and lepromatous)

Tubers with dark rings around their pale eyes don’t feel anything when small things positively inflame their immune system.

Tubers (tuberculoid) with dark rings (erythematous - red border) around their pale (pigment loss in center of rash - well definied asymmetrical cutaneous macular rash) eyes don't feel anything (sensory loss) when small (small numbers of bacteria in macrophages) things positively (lepromin skin test positive) infllame (inflammatory response strong) their immune system (T cell - DTH response)

Lepers can’t breath when bees bring bacteria to infect them.

Lepers (lepromatous) can't breath (obstructed breathing - invovle nasal mucosa) when bees (bees --> b cell response) bring bacteria (large numbers of bacteria) to infect (infectious) them

Home, home on the range, where the cows and the antelope sleep, the winter will fall and chancers will form, as flies move in Africa all day…

Home, home on the range, where the cows and the antelope (cattle/antelope - Tb rhodesiense; human for the other one) sleep (sleeping sickness), the winter(winterbottom's sign - enlarged posterior cervival glands) will fall and chancres (chancres - primary lesions) will form, as flies (tstese fly is vector) move (motile trypanosomes in smears) in africa (africa is endemic area) all day (please sing this according to the song home on the range)

Gamblers are slow. Roads help cattle move faster.

Gamblers (Trypanosoma brucei gambiense) are slow (slow to enter CNS – illness lasts from mo-years). Roads (Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense) help cattle (cattle/antelope) move faster (early invasion of CNS – fatal if not treated; illness < 9 mo).

In the sunlight, pigs produce proglottids from their stomach into their stool.

In the sunlight (sun = sol in latin; taenia solium), pigs (swine primary host - pork tapeworm) produce proglottids (in stool, or larvae or eggs) from their stomach (convert from eggs to oncospheres in stomach) into their stool (fecal oral infection)

Heartless demons smell of sulfur and kill with acid, causing oozing lesions covered in wax.

Heartless (no heart - nocardia brasiliensis) demons smell of sulfur (sulfur granules) and kill with acid (weakly acid fast - trehalose dimycolate), causing oozing lesions (pustules; suppurative granulomas over time) covered in wax (waxy colonies that turn chalky)

Crawling on your hands and knees with bad two-faced rats on a hill will put you in bed with relapsing fever.

Crawling on your hands and knees (nonpruritic rash (maculopapular, pustular etc) on palms, soles, extremities - asymmetrical polyarthritis- knees most often affected) with bad (gram neg) two-faced (many faces - many forms – pleomorphic – at odds with name which is Strep. moniliformis) rats (rat bite fever) on a hill(haverhill fever) will put you in bed with relapsing fever(relapsing fever - febrile and nonfebrile periods)

Try to stay straight and don’t move without breathing when someone punches you and breaks your bones. I’m going to kill Nella. Corrodens.

try to stay straight( gram neg, neg sign is straight - rod is straight - needles are straight (please don't lick them)) and don't move (stiffness - limitation of movement), without breathing (anaerobic) when someone punches you (clenched fist injury) and breaks your bones (can spread to bones - osteomyelitis). "i'm going to kill nella" - Eikenella. corrodens - appear to corrode/erode agar - gas pockets (anaerobe) and bleach smell (hypochlorite)

The best Israeli dentists will perform surgery on your molars without causing sinus problems that make it hard to breathe when you summon sulfur smelling chupacabras in the woods.

The best (best - postive -gram pos) israeli (actinomyces israelii) dentists will perform surgery (risk - trauma, dental work, surgery) on your molars (molar tooth shaped colonies) without causing sinus (sinus tracts) problems that make it hard to breathe (anaerobe - no breathing air) when you summon sulfur (sulfur granules) smelling chupacabras (goat suckers) (suck out blood - hematogenous spread - spread thr. blood) in the woods (woody abscess)

Two bad white lumpy cats like to signal each other with mice in soft pastures.

2 (bipolar staining) bad (gram neg rods) white (white mucoid colonies) lumpy (regional lymphadenopathy) cats (zoonotic transmission) like to signal each other (Tox A - affect signal transduction pathway via act. of G prot) with mice (mousy odor) in soft (soft abscesses) pastures ( pasteurella multocida)

Abscesses are SAPpy in the Israeli sun.

abscesses are SAPpy in the Israeli(A. israelii) sun(aura - sun) - abscesses - S(staph. aureus) A (actinomyces israeli) P (Pasteurella multocida)

CVS pharmacy

CVS pharmacy - C (clostridium perfringens) V (vibrio vulnificus) S (strep pyogenes)

Subcutaneous virulence

Claustrophobic diabeties that like eggs get positively gassy when making lecithin crackers.

Claustrophopic (clostridium perfringens - sort of sounds similar) diabetics (diabeties and those with decreased peripheral circulation are at risk) that like eggs (egg yolk agar --> precipitation) get positively (gram + rod) gassy (anaerobe; gas from fermentation - gas gangrene) when making lecithin (lecithinase - alpha toxin) crackers (crepitus - crackling sound)

1-2 days after swimming in the sea, don’t move bad oysters. Sick people get Sepsis and Skin lesions.

1-2 days (progressives fast - 24-48 hours skin lesions after infection) after swimming (water sports) in the sea (salty water), don't move (motile rod) bad (gram -) oysters (contaminated oysters). Sick people(immunocompromised - higher risk of invasion) get Sepsis(decreased BP, septic shock) and Skin lesions (blistering skin lesions - blood filled bullae).

Fat people without muscle can’t put out fires with water.

Fat (destruction of fat) people without muscle (destruction of muscle - deep tissue infection) can't put out fires (Strep pyogenes - pyo --> pyro --> fire) with water (fluid filled bullae)

Dragons spiral in San Francisco making ulcerous rings.

Dragons (dracunculus medinesis) spiral (spirillum minus) in San francisco (francisella tularensis) making ulcerous (ulcers) rings

Drinking with crabby dragons in Africa will give you worms that slowly leave your skin but not before making you slow and sick.

Drinking (consume water) with crabby(infected crustaceans) dragons (dracunculus medinesis) in Africa (tropical africa) will give you worms (guinea/medinia worm - nematode) that slowly (protrude after a year -about 2-3 months to erupt completely) leave (erupt thr. ulcers) your skin (cutaenous ulcer) but not before making you slow (interfere with locomotion) and sick (urticaria, nausea, vomit, diarrhea - flu-like symptoms).

Eating a little bit of chocolate covered wild animals laced with cysteine in San Francisco is bad for your health.

Eating (oropharyngeal/GI tularemia - eating contaminated meat) a little bit (low infectious dose - only 10-50 org req. for infection) of chocolate (chocolate agar) covered wild animals (zoonotic transmission - rabbit/deer/rodents) laced with cysteine (cysteine req) in San Francisco (francisella tularensis) is bad (gram neg) for your health (Cell mediated immune response - hypersens)

Bad rats visited Asia for 2 weeks and went back to the dark 3-9 days later for 2 days FUL of red spiral rashes.

Bad (gram neg) rats (rate bite/spirillar fever/sodoku) visited asia (highest incidence for those visitng/live in asia) for 2 weeks (disease after 14-18 days after exposure) and went back (relapsing fever - recurring symptoms in untreated patients) to the dark (dark field prep) 3-9 days later (symptoms reppears 3-9 days later for untreated) for 2 days (rash for 48 hours) F(fever)U(ulcers)L(lymphadenopathy) of red spiral (spiral - spirillum minus) rashes (red brown macular rash)

Spores like MOTTS applesauce the least.

Spores (sporothrix schenckii) like MOTTS (sorta self explanatory) applesauce the least (leishmania)

Playing with flies in the sand scarred my skin the least. But a mass of goats destroyed my mucosal tissues.

Playing with flies in the sand (sand flies) scarred (spontanously heal but leave scars) my skin (cutaneous leishmaniasis) the least (leishmania spp). But a mass of goats (amastigote - intracellular) destroyed my mucosal tissues (mucocutaneous - infect at mucosal-dermal jct; nasal septum; buccal cavity).

Jensen enjoys the many flavors of MOTTS applesauce with tea outside on rought hard days that rain acid.

Jensen (lowenstein jensen media) enjoys the many flavors (pleomorphic rod - many forms) of MOTTS (duh) applesauce with tea (T cell mediated chronic inflammation) outside (environmental sources) on rough (verrucal - roiugh, wart like lesions) hard (granulomas - nodular lymphangitis - nodes are hard) days that rain acid (acid fast wall - trehalose dimycolate)

When picking mushrooms in rose bushes with clogged sinuses, don’t breathe in spores while touching cold mold before using warm yeast in cigars.

When picking mushrooms (thermally dimorphic fungi) in rose bushes (rose thorms - environ source - vegetation with thorns) with clogged (thickened lymphatics - nodular - abscesses) sinuses (sinus tracts draining to epidermis), don't breathe in spores (Sporothrix schenckii) while touching cold (mold at 25 deg - cold) mold (1 form) before using warm (yeast at 35-37 deg) yeast (2nd form) in cigars (cigar shaped yeast in tissue)

Bop that eschar on the head.

Bop that eschar on the head - B (bacillus anthracis) O (orf virus) P (pseudomonas aeruginosa) – Eschars

Henderson likes smooth mollusks with two shells. When he was a child, he picked them up with his hands and feet and put them on his face; as an adult, he covers his privates.

Henderson (henderson-patterson bodies - eosinic cytoplasmic inclusion bodies) likes smooth (smooth, shiny surface with central induration) molluscs (Molluscum Contagiosum) with two shells (double envelope; dsDNA) - when he was a child, he picked them up with his hands and feet and put them on his face (kids get warts on face, trunk, extremities); as an adult, he covers his privates (adults gets warts on abdomen, pubis, genitalia, inner thigh).

Rule of 3’s. 3 letters, 3 lesions, 3 ganglia

Rule of 3's - HSV (3 letters); lesions in groups of 3; 3 ganglia - Trigem (cold sores; hsv-1); Sacral (genital; hsv-2); Brachial (herpetic whitlow - fingers)

The Japanese are very healthy.

the japanese are very healthy - only jpn encephalitis has a vaccine - others may have animal vaccines

Timeless

Time passes by so swiftly that sometimes I don't know what has happened, what I've done, and what will come. I don't want anything to pass me by. I don't want to forget something, to have regrets...

Which is why some things should be Timeless...

Give me just one second.

One second to look into your eyes.

One second to say good-bye.

One more second to catch the sigh that escapes your lips.

Give me one more minute.

One minute to say how much I miss you.

One minute to hold your hand.

One minute to wipe that tear from your face.

Give me one hour.

One hour to watch the sunset.

One hour to show you my love.

One hour to admit my mistake.

Please give me one day.

One day to spend with you.

One day to hold you in my arms and tell you how much I care.

One second,

one minute,

one hour,

one day…

will never be enough.

So give me a lifetime,

A lifetime of laughter, of love, of joy…