More on Lunar New Year

This year, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim treated us to a very special New Year dinner.  She invited us to a restaurant, and the owners put on a very special menu for Grandmaster Kim.  Since it is the Year of the Dragon, the chef prepared a very creative center piece, complete with dry ice as the dragon breath!

As we admired each dish, each one more creative then the one before, I started thinking about Grandmaster‘s Silent Master Images.  Let’s review those here.  (If you want to learn more about them, you can read about them in Grandmaster Kim’s book, “Seven Steps to Inner Power”)

You are one of a kind

You and the Life Force are one.

Your thoughts create reality

You are creative energy

You have the power to fulfill your dreams

You are complete, peaceful and fulfilled.

In this case, I thought especially about “Your thoughts create reality”  and “You are creative energy.”

Grandmaster Kim always emphasizes that in order for us to do something, we have to think it first!  If we can think it – we can do it!

http://www.myspace.com/taeyunkim

http://www.myspace.com/taeyunkim

Lunar New Year special

At Jung SuWon, we are learning not just to punch and kick.  We are learning about the unity of body, mind, and spirit, and how to achieve that, about Ki energy, and how to apply this in our daily lives.  Not just in the Do Jang.

And in addition, we also learn a lot about the Korean culture.  This makes a lot of sense, since Tae Kwon Do originates in Korea, and Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim also comes from there.

So, for Lunar New Year celebration,  we typically fast, to cleanse our bodies, minds, and spirits.  This is followed by a very special ceremony, after which we have some wonderful, traditional rice cake soup.  But this year, Grandmaster Kim combined two soups into a most delicious, and nourishing soup.  This year, we had seaweed soup with rice cakes!  This is a case where the result is much better than the sum of its parts.

Rice cake soup is the traditional New year food in Korea.  And seaweed soup is typically given to women that have just had given birth, to help cleanse their bodies and get back to strength fast.

Grandmaster Kim tells us that when she was born, on the lunar New Year, in 1946, everyone was  expecting her to be a boy, as a boy, born on that day, was of course destined to be a great leader!  But when they realized she was a girl, the dumped the seaweed soup they had made for her mother, and everyone was shocked at this awful curse that had befallen the village!

You can read Grandmaster Kim’s complete story here.   And as we all know, even though she had such a tough childhood, she is the ultimate success story today.

 

Jung SuWon Style Birthday cakes

When you are training in the Martial Arts, and especially training at Jung SuWon, under Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, sooner or later you are going to want to adopt her philosophy about food, and you will want to eat a very healthy diet.

So, what do you do about Birthday cakes then?  I mean, we need to cut down on sweets and fats and such.

As Grandmaster Kim teaches, a healthy treat, prepared with love, once in a while, is not going to hurt you.  In fact, it can be very beneficial to you.  It is all a matter of balance.

The cake you see on this blog, is made entirely with certified organic ingredients, and is also gluten free.  I made it with organic carrots, light brown organic sugar, eggs from free-ranging, healthy chickens, a simple non-gluten flour mix and walnuts.

But even if you cannot make a cake with healthy ingredients, or you choose not to, the key is that it is ok to enjoy a treat – once in a while.

So go and enjoy in moderation!

PS: credit where credit is due:  the original recipe came through Shirly at http://glutenfreeeasily.com and is actually from here: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/10/coconut-carrot-cake.html

Jung SuWon style Burritos

Yes, you heard that right.  Burritos.  A lot of young people come to Jung SuWon Martial Art Academy and one of their most favorite foods is Burritos.

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim never tells people, “don’t to this, don’t do that.”  Instead, she just asks some questions, and helps them understand what is good for them, and what is not.  Burritos are, in themselves, neither good nor bad.  It all depends on what you put in them, and what attitude you have when you make them. You can read a lot about this in this blog.  .   If you go to Taco Bell, or some other Fast Food restaurant, you will probably not benefit from what you eat there.

But, on the other hand, if you prepare your Burrito at home, with healthy ingredients, they can be a wonderful source of nutrition and energy, and prepare you for a challenging Martial Arts workout.

Last night, Grandmaster Kim taught a group of youngsters how to make some very healthy and very creative Burritos.  Instead of smothering them and drowning them in all kinds of “not good for you” sauces, they were made out of fresh, healthy ingredients.  Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim is – in addition to countless other things – one of the extremely few Ki Energy Masters left in this world, and when she cooks, as in everything she does, she puts all that knowledge and experience into action.

Trip to Korea – culinary impressions

Back in March, Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim took a group of us to Korea, where she had a most demanding schedule of lectures, meetings, presentations and more. Since this blog is about food, I thought it might be nice to show you through pictures some of the exquisite wonderful food we got to enjoy.
And before I post the pictures, here is a link to a video about this trip:

So, here we go..

Another excellent Jung SuWon breakfast: rice and kimchi

I wanted to write more about breakfast foods, and I want to mention a very simple, yet healthy and nourishing breakfast.  I am talking rice and kimchi here and not like the fancy foods in the picture I posted.

 Again, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim was my source.  She has a knack of knowing what does a body good, and what gives you energy to sustain you.  Of course, rice and kim chi tastes great any time of day, but the way she showed me to expand on the concept, it’s a sure winner.

If you have a rice pot, make some mixed rice, with brown rice, some beans (soak them before you cook them), millet, sesame seeds or whatever you feel comfortable with.  Korean stores sell some great already mixed bags of grain.  When the rice is almost done, make a couple of eggs (about 2 – 3 per person) any style you like.  I prefer scrambled myself, but this is entirely up to you.  If you really want to go traditional, just as the rice cooker stops cooking, drop some eggs on top of the rice and close again.  Let sit and after about 5 – 10 minutes you got some wonderfully cooked sunny side up eggs sitting right on the rice.

To put it all together, scoop out as much rice as you like, into a bowl.  Mix with salt, sesame oil, pepper and some sesame seeds, mix it well, add the eggs and any kind of kimchi. 

Now enjoy!  This will keep you satisfied all morning without making you tired, and it’s great just before or after a Jung SuWon class!  Now go and try it out!

Jung SuWon Wedding……

So the reason I haven’t been posting for a while is that we had a big wedding to prepare.  A couple of happy Jung SuwonWarriors got married!  (Here is the happy couple at Jung Suwon….)

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim recommends this after a long day, when you are all tired, had all the restaurant food you ever want to see, are caked out, and simply want to relax and have some good old home style meal.  Of course, do make this ahead of time, the last thing you want to do that day is cook….

If you look at some of my previous posts, you could try any of the soups I mentioned – they would work well.  If you need something more substantial, try to make a roast a couple of days before and keep on hand.

Or, if you really like a spicy pick-me-up, try this old and tried recipe for Gulasch.

Use stew meat – coat all pieces in flour that was seasoned with salt and pepper;

heat olive oil in a pot, put in a couple of tablespoons ground garlic, add sliced onions – about 1/2 as much onions in volume as you have meat and brown

add meat, brown on all sides, add Hungarian paprika if you can get it, else use regular paprika, if you like it really spicy, cut up a small hot green pepper and add

Add beef soup (water will do in a pinch) to at least cover the meat, you can use more if you like Gulasch more like a soup, cover, and cook until meat is soft.  This dish improves when it cooks for long time over low heat and is ideal for a crock pot.  Just before you serve it, add salt, paprika and red pepper to taste, and if you like, serve with a tablespoon of sour cream on top.

You could also add some cut up potatoes 10 minutes before serving.  You can serve this with rice, or noodles, or simply with some French bread.  I guarantee you, it’s good, soothing and thoroughly enjoyable.

I will leave you with this quote from Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, which comes in handy during the crazy time of wedding preparations:

“Always find something to appreciate – no matter what.  Appreciation does wonders to keep your mind free from the heavy negativity that encloses you in limitation, fear, and oppression.  You have seen those hot air balloons that rise so lightly?  Appreciation is like the force that tosses out the weights that keep the balloons on the ground.  Without those weights, the balloons rise naturally and freely.  That’s how you can be when you allow appreciation and gratitude to fill your heart and mind.  Appreciation keeps you focused on good things, and this causes more good to manifest.” (The Silent Master, page 156)

Jung SuWon Soup’s on!

The fall/winter season has come with a vengeance right now, after a very warm early fall.  It’s cold and dreary and rainy outside and I happen to love this kind of weather. 

It’s also the perfect weather to work out at Jung Suwon.  It’s not so hot that you sweat just changing your clothes.  In fact you’ll need to work hard to stay warm! 

I have found that soup is perfect for this time of year.  But in addition, if you are not a good cook yet, and you are struggling with your culinary development, start with soup. Trust me, they are easy to make, it’s easy to be creative with soups, and it’s easy to impress people with your soup cooking.

For example, spicy Korean soups are my current favorites to make and eat.  They are healthy, filling, but not fattening perfect foods and so easy to make.  A perfect soup base would be some chicken soup as in the recipe earlier on this blog.  Or the oxtail soup I mentioned.  But, if you don’t happen to have that on hand, or just don’t want to bother, no problem!

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim explained to me that during the Korean War times soup was always a great thing to make – whatever you had, you put into the soup and were able to feed several people for what otherwise would have been just one ingredient for one person! 

So, here are some basics for some good soup.  Let’s assume you don’t have any broth ready.   Boil some water with ground or chopped garlic (and in my opinion there is no such thing as too much garlic).  If you have some leftover potroast, add a couple of slices, or if you have some leftover broiled chicken, you could add that.  Add whatever vegetables you have on hand and boil.  Add salt and pepper to taste and if you like it spicy like I do, add some red pepper flakes.  You could also add some kimchi to this.

As to what to put into the soup, the sky is the limit.  Try some noodles – either the very thin Japanese noodles (boil them seperately), or Korean glass noodles, or whatever size and shape noodle you like.  Or, add some suchebi, or some ready made mandoo.  Or add a few of each.  You can also drop some eggs into the soup. 

Ok ok, I better stop – I believe this will keep you busy for a while.  But do go ahead and give soup a chance!

Spaghetti, the Jung SuWon way

Spaghetti!  Here is another one of those marvellous foods that has received such bad press because of the -gasp! – carbohydrates.  But trust me, spaghetti, especially when you serve it with a nice green salad, is a wonderful and balanced meal that can turn your everyday dinner into a 5-star experience.  And for the health conscious, let me just remind you that doctors highly recommend a mediterranean diet, complete with healthy carbs and healthy fats, all in moderation.

I am a snob when it comes to spaghetti and I don’t settle for opening a jar of sauce and heating it up, no matter how good the sauce is supposed to be.  I insist on doing some work and the end result is worth it and should I have leftovers my guests ask to take them home! 

Word to the wise:  I am pretty sure there are as many recipes for spaghetti out there as there are cooks, and yes I do claim my recipe tastes fantastic.  My source?  Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, of Jung SuWon, of course. 

For the sauce, I use a generous amount of ground beef, and boil and rinse before I use it.  Once dried, I roast that in olive oil with chopped garlic and if you like, put in a little finely chopped pastrami, or some smoked meat.  Roast that in the final cooking pan and once its nicely browned, set aside.

In flat pan, heat olive oil, add chopped onions, and sautee until yellow, then add a generous amount of sliced mushrooms.  Sautee until the juices are almost all gone.  Add to the meat.  In the same pan you used to cook the onions, heat more olive oil, and put in a bunch of cut up tomatoes, some green and red bell peppers, finely chopped fresh basil, parsley, and add some fresh thyme.  When the juice of the tomatoes has cooked down, add to the meat mixture, mix well together, and add some red wine.  Cook until reduced and then add some tomatoe sauce from a jar.  Newman’s is good, but any other good quality sauce will work. 

I typically don’t add any more salt, but go ahead and add to your liking.  Cook for at least an hour, on very low heat, or you can cook for several, it will only improve the taste.  However, you need to stir frequently to prevent burning.

I am not good at giving exact quantities as you might have guessed by now, but if you have any idea about cooking you’ll catch on very quickly. 

As for the noodles, use whatever shape you like.  Lately I have fallen in love with whole wheat pasta and I cook that and sautee in olive oil where I have browned some chopped garlic, and mix in some fresh basil, finely chopped.  Mix well and use that as base for your outstanding sauce. 

Now sit down and enjoy. Part of the mediterranean diet is to take your time to eat and enjoy.  For the Jung SuWon warriors among us, this is a great dish to make ahead for after class.  You can make it the night before, or the same day – make the sauce, and boil the noodles.  While you shower after class, start heating the sauce and then quickly sautee the noodes, or you could conceivably skip that step. 

Enjoy, without guilt!  You worked it off before you ate it!