I'm an agent of chaos...

Let's introduce a little anarchy......

Long overdue post.

It's been a while since I've had time to sit down and collect my thoughts and just reflect. Life in Los Angeles really moves too quickly for a twenty-four hour day. Everything is just do, do, and do, and when you want to just sit back and reflect on what you were doing, it's time to do again and you just get lost in everything. If there's something I've learned over the past two and a half years at UCLA, it's to cherish the downtime and the solitude and peace that comes with it.

Another thing I've learned is to cherish my family. You take them so much for granted when you're living at home, it's actually kind of odd to see myself bugging my mom instead of the other way around to see how she is. She actually gets annoyed of me since all she just wants to go back to her obsessive-compulsive e-mail checking. Oh well, c'est la vie. The last time I got to see my entire family was Thanksgiving weekend when we went up to La Verne's place in Seattle. If there's ever a reason to be my girlfriend, boyfriend, adopted sibling, half-cousin twice removed, or to have any other conceivable connection to my family, it's for the food. I don't know when it started, but my family get-togethers always require extra-intense workouts at the gym afterwards because all we do is feast. Let me elaborate.

My brother in law has been experimenting with his own charity project where he cooks a fabulous dinner for some of his friends, collects however much they would expect to pay at a real restaurant, collects corporate matching, and donates it all to a food bank. I was fortunate to make it in time to Seattle to participate in this great idea. It's really an innovative idea, and sounds like a great way to give back to the community especially in these more difficult times. Following my first taste of Fishes and Loaves, we got to have yet another awesome Sheu Thanksgiving®, where we had about 24 plates planned out, but were only able to serve and complete 20 because everybody got too full by then. Following that we were just able to enjoy some quality time with each other at the park and enjoy Black Friday in Seattle. Interesting Rain City tidbit: On Black Friday, people go to R.E.I. for the sales instead of going to the mall like Californians do. Because of that, the little shopping center that my family went to was as crowded as Oakridge or Valley Fair on a normal shopping day, which was pretty amazing to me.

On a quick side note, it's interesting to see different cultures of every major city. During my various visits to the east coast, namely New York City, many of the people dress warmly in very fashionable peacoats, while people from Seattle just dress in rugged Northface outerware and drive economical and enviromentally-friendly vehicles. Meanwhile, Los Angeles cityfolk just wear t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops in the middle of December while driving Escalades and Lamborghini's.

Tomorrow, my parents are leaving for Tokyo for a two week vacation. Notice how only my parents are going. Yes, this is implying that I'm going to be home alone for Christmas and New Year's, or rather I was going to be. Thankfully both of my sisters have graciously decided to give me some company and are returning to their Bay Area hometown. We were all kind of shocked when we found out that they were going on a vacation without the rest of us, since usually they do decide to bring us along to Alaska, or San Diego, or wherever. It's cute to see them being more independent now that I'm in college and they finally have some time to themselves, since they never really had any once my oldest sister was born right after they got married. I think La Verne took a hint from that, since she's been married for over five years now and she still doesn't have any kids (and she's getting old too!). I'm probably dead for writing that. As cute as my parents are getting, it was a little unsettling at first to see them a little...happier? I don't know what other word to use to describe it, but it was kind of gross. But hey, who am I to judge, they're my parents and they love each other, even if it does make their three kids a little disturbed.

It's good to be home. Hope all of you loyal readers have a safe and happy holidays. God bless =]

RIP NIV

So I think I lost my bible. I took it to church on Sunday, and I remember bringing it back to the car and that was the last time I saw it. I can't remember whether I brought it with me into the mall for lunch or not, or if it fell out when I opened the car door. This makes me so sad, I got that bible for my 15th birthday from my sister. She even got it engraved for me. :(

Plug.

My brother-in-law just started a bit of an experiment on contributing to the community. Check it out.

http://fishesloaves.wordpress.com

Barack'rolled.

My sisters wrote lengthy posts celebrating Obama's victory in the White House. Though I'm happy that we have a dependable leader, I will not follow suit. Instead, I'll ask this:

How do we spread the gospel without hurting someone? A more applicable version of that question would be how do we tell people that Prop 8 is necessary and that they shouldn't be supporting same sex marriages?

Musings of a Melloviolist

I hope a certain someone laughed at the title (hi lav).

The other night I got to see Lang Lang in concert. A friend of mine and I decided to go see him the day before the concert, but neither of us had tickets, so we pretty much booked it to Royce Hall almost two hours before the concert and waited for the box office to open up in hopes of getting student rush tickets. Student rush tickets were $66 each. And it was worth every penny.

His program consisted of Schubert's Sonata in A major D. 959, Bartok's Sonata BB 88, Sz. 80, a handful of Debussy preludes, and Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise Op.53 in A-flat along with the Op.10 No. 3 etude for his encore piece. Lang Lang is known for the almost child-like enthusiasm that he brings to the concert stage, and that's what people both love and hate him for. But interestingly enough, he treated the Schubert sonata, which made up the entire first half of the program, as a piece of music that required maturity and dignity, and it was amazing how much poise he put into it. And rightly so, considering the D. 959 sonata was one of Schubert's last masterpieces that he wrote before his death in 1828. He had this graceful soft touch that was just absolutely sublime. The Bartok that followed afterward, returned a more familiar side of Lang Lang that I had appreciated because it brought energy to the piece and energy to an aging audience that might've fallen asleep during the Schubert.

Speaking of an aging audience, I took note that my friend and I were the only ones of our age group without our parents accompanying. The majority of the audience had heads of silver strands and bald spots. And it got me wondering, why are we the only kids in the audience? Lang Lang is one of the leading pianists of our generation, in fact he's only 25. And yet his main audience is comprised of people who are about three times his age. At the end of a concert the Grammaphone organization presented him with a plaque for his contribution to music education (he had just established a foundation under his own name dedicated to education in the musical arts), and it made me realize how important my decision to double major in education really was. Even though chamber music is still my first love, I realized how important it is to continue to bring music education to the classroom, to try and bring enlightenment to kids who listen to crappy music and knock some real music into their heads. It's now more than just a safety net for my dad to sleep soundly about, but an important thing I might have to do if the whole international superstar quartet job doesn't happen.

Organums make my organs bleed.

It is 3:36 AM and I sit here at my jerker desk from Ikea, listening to the most painfully boring music I've ever heard. And yet I have to know every single note for my music history class and be able to give a brief (keyword being brief) analysis on each piece. I've never heard so many drones and leaping fifths in my life, and yet here I sit, painfully listening to each one. The most annoying part about this situation is not the music itself, but how I have to learn it all now because I can't pay attention in class because it's so difficult to stay awake in. I have a good two pages of notes, and those were all from the first half of the first day of class before I succumbed to unconsciousness via the smooth melismatic sounds of Richard Crocker's interpretations of what he believed gregorian chants originally sounded like.

It is now 3:57 and I have not done anything since I typed that last sentence.

Must pray.

TODAY I PLAYED ON A REAL STRADIVARIUS!!!1111

No more junk food, no more coke. If I don't work out, I can't enjoy junk food without a guilty conscience. Clean and healthy eating from here on out!

Yes, this is what guys think about.

Weekend of Food

So this past weekend was a rather fun-filled weekend of cuisine. There were a few events that warranted some adventure and exploration in the world of cooking.

The first of these events was my church's first bible study of the school year. We decided to make it a potluck and since my apartment was hosting, I decided to make two things. The first (and infinitely easier) of the two dishes was an insalata caprese. Insalata caprese is a very basic Italian salad which mainly consists of mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil, with seasoning on top. There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about this, but it was pretty good.

The second dish was much more complicated and tedious, even to the point of being dangerous. This is where I decided to be adventurous and try my hand at coconut fried shrimp. The first step was to get the coconut flakes. I'm becoming more of an elitist in regards to where I get my ingredients, and I decided to get two whole coconuts. I roasted them in the oven for about half an hour and then cracked them open. Colletively, it took me about an hour to grate both coconuts, since you have to break them into pieces that are small and straight enough (as opposed to larger round ones) to be usable on a grater. Once I did that, I seasoned the shrimp (apparently the shrimp at the butcher's counter at Ralph come pre-deveined! all you have to do is peel off the shell!) in some spices and corn starch, dipped them in egg whites for some protein cohesiveness, and then dipped them in the coconut flakes. Once that was done, it was into the fryer they went.

It was my first time deep frying with oil. And so, like a total newb, I put a lid on the pot where the oil was heating up. A couple of minutes later, the pot explodes because the oil superheated. The lid went flying up about a foot in the air, did a 180, and landed upside down on the pot. There was a fireball, and there was hot oil everywhere, including my arm and feet. It was amazing that I wasn't burned, considering how close my face was to the pot at the time, and so the situation could've turned out much worse, such as being blinded. My brother-in-law told me that "every good chef has a hot oil incident." His happened when he was dumping hot oil into the trash can that had water in it, and when the two forces collide, there's a big explosion. Anyway, Dan Mats and Meenah were around to help me calm down and clean up, and we ended up making a full batch of coconut shrimp. They turned out amazing, and I think using fresh ingredients (like a stupid coconut) really makes all the difference.

The next day I was invited over to cook for the lovely ladies of Plaza 313, which was Christine, Kelly, Hayley, and Sarah. I decided to make sweet and sour pork, and again, I used fresh ingredients instead of getting stuff from a can. I marinated the pork overnight in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and a mixture of flour and corn starch. For the rest of the dish, I used whole red bell peppers, green bell peppers, carrots, celery, an onion, and a whole pineapple. Once the vegetables were chopped, I started frying the pork, this time being much more cautious to not let the oil superheat again. Once that was done, I began stir frying everything together, and introduced a sauce of ketchup, vinegar, honey, and sugar into the mixture. It turned out really well, although I thought the pork was a bit salty so I'll probably add water to the marinade next time to thin out the soy sauce a bit.

Later that night was game night where our beloved Bruins defeated the Washington State Cougars 28-3. Since it was a football game, I decided to try my hand at some good old-fashioned hamburgers. I decided to make a red a theme for the burger since Wasu is red and as a Bruin I was eating them. Red meat marinated in coke which has a red can, red onions, red cabbage, tomatoes, pepper jack cheese, light mayo (which mixes with the juices of the meat to make a killer sauce), on a toasted bun. The burger was okay, but I probably won't marinate the meat in coke next time. Being in liquid for so long made the patties fall apart and it was difficult to make them stick back together. Next time, I'm just going to grind the meat myself (with half sirloin and half chuck) and just season it. Also, maybe I can slice the onions a little thinner. There was too much bitter onion juice in each bite.

The last dish of the night would be my proudest accomplishment of the weekend. Braised baby back ribs. To be technical, braising involves a low heat, moist, over a long period of time. This supposedly dissolves the collagen fibers into gelatin which is what makes ribs so tasty and tender. Anyway, I applied my own dry rub to the meat the night before and then let it sit overnight. The next night I made a braising liquid from white wine, white wine vinegar, worchestershire sauce, honey, and garlic, and added that to the ribs, and then stuck them in a 225 degree oven for 3 hours. Afterward, I took the braising liquid and reduced it into a glaze and smothered that on top of the ribs and broiled them for about 30 seconds. The result? Well, let the picture explain. We started the braising at around 7pm, and started eating by 10:45. And it was worth every second of the wait.

I'm also down about $127 bucks from the weekend, but thankfully I have a handful of ASUCLA coupons that give me cheap or free food.

Pain is weakness leaving the body...

Not. Pain is your body telling you that the muscle fibers, connective tissues, and nerves are under stress and want you to stop what you're doing.

I had a long day at school today. The first four hours aren't so bad because they're just classes and stuff, it's the five hours of rehearsals afterward that really mess you up. 5 hours on a 16 and 3/8" viola really does a number on your body. The muscles in my shoulders ache. The nerves in my elbow are giving off a very unsettling feeling. The tendons in my left wrist are aching.

Maybe my body will get used to it in a few days.
HOPE/PRAY

Fail.

So I get back from my day on campus at like midnight, and started cooking my dinner. It was these two salmon steaks that I seasoned and just threw in the pan, but as soon as I started cooking them our entire apartment was filled with smoke or steam or fog or whatever, and then next thing I know the smoke detector went off. It's weird though since I've cooked salmon steaks before in the same exact method without any problems with the smoke detectors.

On the bright side, the steaks were delicious.

Why CrossFit reigns supreme.

http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=fitness&category=muscle.building&topic=total.body&conitem=5d2c6713f86da110VgnVCM10000013281eac____&page=1

^ workout for pansies.

http://www.crossfit.com for those with testosterone in their system.

lawl

Chuan Yun Li is amazing.

Well, I quit.

We all saw it coming.

Like many members of the Asian-American community, I usually choose to stay uninvolved with political debate and speculation, but this was just too amusing. An internet message board that I frequent posted this link about a week ago.

Just Like Bush White House, Palin Uses Personal E-mail Accounts And Claims Executive Privilege

Today, I see this.

Web site claims hacker tricked Yahoo into providing access to Sarah Palin's e-mail account

r u sirius

Memories

I went through many phases throughout high school. Apparently I had a fat phase at one point.

Wow I'm slow.

So I just realized how everything really isn't fine and dandy in my life. I don't know why it took me so long, but I was never one to confront my own problems head on. I'll always force everything behind my laid back mask, the one that's just chill with life. And perhaps that's why when it piles up, the problem just seems so huge. It's like putting off all your homework assignments off until the day of the final. No matter how you try to deal with them, you gotta face your problems eventually.

It started when I was catching up with an old friend of mine. I've known him for several years now, despite growing up in completely different areas. We met at a joint church retreat and have had a common love for pho, and the rest as they say, is history. Tonight I met up with him again for some more pho, and we were just talking about what we've been up to for the past year and how we were doing. He was explaining how he met his girlfriend, and that turned into his plans for the future. And that's when it got me thinking, what are my plans for the future?

What am I going to do once I'm finished with school? I keep telling myself and other people that I plan to get a master's degree in music once I'm done with my undergrad, but what next? Teach music? A job in a symphony (which are extremely difficult to get)? My supposed dream job of forming a successful quartet in the bay area? There's no security in that. There's no stability in that. How do you raise a family with no security in such a volatile profession?

My dad and I had been having an on and off argument about me picking up a second profession such as computer engineering or pre-med in case music didn't work out, and I would just blow him off stating that I was too far into my undergraduate career to start that now, and to divide my time between two professions like that would just end up screwing me in both fields. But really, I was just too proud to go back on my word of making music a viable career. Too proud to tell my friends and colleagues that music wasn't for me. Too proud to become one of those sellouts that I scorn for using music to get into UCLA because their grades couldn't get them in the first time. What a waste of time; precious time that I could've used to work towards a profession that would actually be able to provide.

But in the end, I realize that it's not about what my plans for the future are. It's about what are God's plans for my future. I need to place my trust into God's hands. Trust that He'll have plans for a future that's fulfilling. Trust that He'll provide for me, and if there will be one, that He'll be able to provide for my family. Trust that He is sovereign over all things, including this dry and wretched world that I am called to love despite my inherent distrust of it.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family pictures - Free family tree charts

Jet Li and Chiang Kai-Shek. Awesomeeee

Risk-Reward.

Today my good buddy from home, Rei, was in town helping his brother move into a certain cross-town rival school. He had a free day so he spent it hanging out with me in Westwood. It's always good to hang out with my buddies from home, because they're the people that I grew up with and were in some way responsible for my various quirks. He came into the past portion of my class and we went over to In-N-Out for lunch to catch up. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing at my apartment, because let's face it: I don't have a car and there's nothing in LA that we find particularly interesting. But really, who needs to go out on the town to have fun, I don't. Really, I'm fine with just hanging out in the apartment watching the HD tube.

Tonight's dinner was a bit more adventurous. I've always been a huge fan of good pizzas (well, huge fan of good food in general), with certain fancies for Chicago style deep-dish pizzas like Zachary's of Berkeley, and I'm beginning to become more partial towards the pan pizzas that help to define New York, like Enzo's. This said, it's been more of a goal of mine to learn how to make my own pizza from scratch, just for the sake of being able to taste my own blood, sweat, and tears. My beloved sister and brother-in-law (the younger ones), in all their infinite wisdom, were clever enough to buy me a pizza stone set. It's basically a pizza cutter, a little serving tray, and a stone circle that you bake your pizza on.

Rei and I stopped by Whole Foods on the way back from lunch, and bought our ingredients. I had already bought some raw garlic and herb pizza dough from Trader Joe's on Sunday and had some leftover boneless chicken thighs and sliced mushrooms. We grabbed some tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, baby spinach, and hot link sausages to round out the pie. Preparing the ingredients was the easy part really, just diced the chicken and the sausage into more manageable pieces before grilling them in a pan (can you really call cooking meat in a pan grilling?). The real trickster of the evening was working the dough. I have a new-found respect for people who work in pizzerias. It's harder than you think to get the dough nice and even all over, and I actually gave up on one dough because the flour I put on the stone made it so the dough couldn't stick together anymore (don't worry, there is redemption involved). I opened a new package and had a bit more success, but not without a good amount of effort involved. Anyway, I drizzled a bit of olive oil on the dough and added the tomato sauce and mozzarella and all the other ingredients on top. I finished the pie with an extra layer of tomato sauce and a generous amount of basil and garlic powder. Popped that baby in the oven and looked for a way to salvage the first pile of dough, along with a good amount of extra chicken.

Rei came up with the idea of making little garlic balls, like the ones you would find at C&O's. He got to work on ripping the over-floured dough and rolling them into little balls, while I decided to try my hand on making some soul food. You know where this is going: Fried chicken. I took the remaining pieces of chicken and rolled them around in a good amount of flour and spice. After we were both done with our task, we added a little oil to a hot pan and went to work on frying my mistakes. After all that was done, we tasted to see how it turned out. Our garlic balls were surprisingly good, just a little less salt and they would be perfect. As for the attempt at southern fried chicken, I was a little disappointed. It tasted just fine, except for the fact that it tasted like the crispy chicken you would find at a pearl milk tea place. Oh well, live and learn right? I did a little searching and found a promising low fat oven-fried chicken recipe, so I'm gonna try that out soon when I get the chance.

The pizza itself was great, and only a few little adjustments need to be made before I would deem the crafted pizza date-worthy (hello ladies!). All in all, a fun (and amazingly tedious) experience and I really hope that the Trader Joe's in Westwood opens soon so I can get my hands on some more dough. The picture is a bit fuzzy but that's the finished product. Notice the second layer of tomato sauce added on top: That was my attempt to make my pizza more like a deep-dish, and it was almost overpowering the rest of the toppings so next time it will look much cleaner and be much less...saucayyyyy.

"These days a hundredth of a second can mean the difference in everything. We've seen Michael Phelps win by a hundredth of a second, and we've seen Dana Torres lose by a hundredth of a second. And it's totally within our culture to use comparisons of each other as a standard, and if we were to beat everyone else then we're all set. But if we were to compare ourselves to God's standards, we would all fall completely short of even qualifying. But that's what makes God's grace and forgiveness so amazing, He ignores our record of wrongs and brings us up to His standard."

Come Down Now...

So I have a wedding gig coming up and I've been working with the contractor on the various details of the various pieces of music that they want me to play. And apparently the bride wants to walk down the aisle to Iron and Wine's version of From Such Great Heights. Here's the video I made for them