The powerful Tomato

Here is some more of what Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim is teaching about internal cleansing.

(disclaimer:  I am not a doctor or nurse of any kind, so please check with your physician before you start any cleansing program, new diet, or anything that could have unwanted side effects. )

I personally, on the advice of Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, am increasing the amount of tomatoes in my diet by a lot, for one week.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim mentioned in Jung Suwon class the other day, that tomatoes have powerful cleansing and healing qualities.  You can find the scientific data all over the internet.  But Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim – although she knows all the scientific background – goes strictly by Ki energy.  Great Grandmaster Kim mentioned that right now the energy is right for some good cleansing, losing weight, internal housekeeping and such.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim also points out that no two people are the same, so therefore no program will fit all people.  For me, personally, I will have breakfast every day, and then tomatoes the rest of the day, for one week.

What I can recommend though, is for everyone (that isn’t allergic to them) to incorporate more tomatoes in your diet.  I love them a lot just plain, and eat them like an apple.

They are also great slized or quartered, with just a little salt, or with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Or your can use the sauce you learned to make here and enjoy that way.

Or, slice them up and have them with some parsley, as parsley is also a wonderful cleanser and has incredible amounts of vitamin C.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim recommends that it’s always best to combine internal cleansing with an exercise program.  Of course classes at Jung Suwon are awesome for that, as you are guaranteed to sweat out everything.  But any type of exercise that will make you sweat works great!

Let me know how you will use more tomatoes, and stay in tune for more tomato related updates tomorrow!

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My favorite way to make rice

Yesterday I promised I would share with you how I like to make rice.  I realize that, as in so many things, there must be dozens of ways to make really good rice.  Whether you prefer a rice cooker, or you cook it on a pan, or if you just open a bag of Uncle Ben’s, this just happens to be my favorite, because to me, this just tastes best.  I learned this way of making rice from Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim.  At first, it seemed impossibly difficult to me.  But now that I have the technique down, it’s easy, fairly quick, and very good.  As in all things in this life, once you know how to do them, they are easy, as Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim points out.

You will need one of these:

This is a traditional Korean stone pot.  If you live in an area where there are Korean grocery stores, you’ll be able to get one.  But I am sure there are other stores that have them.  Pretty much any stone, or earthen ware small pot that can withstand direct heat will do.

Next, put in some rice, about this much:

This works best with short grain, white rice.  (Yes, I hear you.  Doesn’t Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim teach us that we should use whole, unprocessed foods whenever we can?  Absolutely!  But just wait a minute!)

I always mix either millet, or black sesame seeds, or both, with the white rice.  I also add some vegetables, (those that can withstand the long cooking process) such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, radishes, mushrooms, even chestnuts, cut in big chunks.  Here you see Oriental mushrooms in the rice pot:

Rinse the rice well and fill the stone pot with water, about 2/3 full.  It will look like there is way too much water.  Add in vegetables, if any, cut in chunks.  Put the stone pot on the stove – I have a gas stove and it works really well.  Bring it to a rolling boil, then cover it with it’s lid:

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has also shown me how to do this for brown rice and rice mixed with beans:  You’ll need to soak those for several hours and preferably pre-cook them a little.  A lot of effort?  Perhaps, but well worth it.  As we hear at Jung Suwon a lot, some things in life you can’t just get from a convenience store – you have to work for it!

Turn the heat down to the very lowest setting, and wrap a towel around it, being careful not to let it touch the flame or the burner, and put something heavy onto the towel to keep it in place.  If you don’t do the “towel thing,” then you’ll end up flooding your stove, as the steam will come out the sides.  This is what it looks like:

Then it’s time to practice the Jung Suwon code of ethics, last one:  PATIENCE!  For the next 20 – 30 minutes, don’t peek!  Resist the temptation!  Go practice your Jung Suwon forms in another part of the house, or read one of Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim’s books!

After 30 minutes, you can open the pot and check – doesn’t it smell wonderful?

Check and make sure the rice is done.  If it’s done but looks too wet, leave off the lid and let it sit on the stove on very low for 5 minutes or so and it will be fine.  If its not done yet and the water is gone, add some water and cover back up.

Now, enjoy!

And tomorrow, you will learn from Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, her favorite sauce to eat with this!

HE CAN DO, SHE CAN DO, WHY NOT ME!

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Beauty and the lemon

Since lemons are fruits, and as such, food, I feel justified in blogging about other benefits of the wonderful lemon here.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has taught me a long time ago, that lemons have incredible powers, aside from being health powerhouses, loaded with vitamin C and all other sorts of wonderful things.

But what Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim also points out, is that lemons are wonderful in helping your skin stay young and supple and healthy looking.  Before each meal, including at restaurants, Great Grandmaster Kim asks for some cut up lemon, then takes a wedge, and squeezes the juice into her palms and then gently massages it into her hands.  This not only thoroughly cleans your hands, it will also make the skin so smooth!

After you rub in the lemon juice, let your hands dry naturally in the air.  Don’t rush this step.  Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim advises to let the lemon juice and all its goodness soak in well.  Do not dry off your hands.  Let them dry naturally.

If you want to get the full “lemon benefit” in your life, have some cut up lemons and kosher salt in your shower, Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim says, ” just before you get into the shower, squeeze some lemon juice into a handful of Kosher Salt, and make a paste – use that instead of soap.”

“Here look at my hands, at my skin,” Great Grandmaster Kim offers, “See how smooth they are, just like baby skin.”

During lectures and seminars, Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim sometimes has her staff pass out out freshly cut lemon wedges, for everyone in attendance to try this.

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Free spirit at the dinner table

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim teaches a lot about how to prepare food.  And she also teaches about dinner table manners and customs.  Great Grandmaster Kim explains that the Korean dinner table is free spirit, and there are all dishes at the table pretty much at the same time.  The table is overflowing with food, and it’s ok to reach across and get what you want, and to fully enjoy it, complete with sound effects.  Here is a picture of a great Korean dinne table:

In contrast, a typical Western dinner, is “tyranny”, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim says, with a twinkle in her eye.  “You get one thing at a time,”  she explains, “and you cannot reach across and get things you like.  You have a very rigid protocol to follow – hold your utensils a certain way, the table has to be set a certain way, you eat certain foods with specific tools.

While of course Great Grandmaster Kim can easily and flawlessly maneuver her way through the most complicated traditional Western dinner tables , she loves to relax at a country style Korean dinner, sitting at the familiar low tables.

Here is how Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim illustrates this further:

When you are using chopsticks, Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim explains, you have to have harmony to make the chopsticks work, you have to put your body, mind and spirit together, and gently hold the food between the chopsticks.  And talking about chopsticks – here is one of Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim‘s awesome stories – the difference between Heaven and Hell.

Hell:

A bunch of people are sitting around a table, wonderful food is in front of them, it appeals to eyes and nose and is just fantastic.  However, the people have 4 feet long chopsticks they cannot feed themselves and are eternally starving, with a table of great food in front of them.

Heaven:

The same situation exactly.  Except, instead of feeding themselves, they are feeding each other and this works beautifully.  Everyone gets what they want and need and everyone helps the next person.  How wonderful that is!  “Giving is receiving” as Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim always says!

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Jung SuWon style cake pops

 

I know.  I said this wouldn’t turn into a cookie/cake/cupcake type  blog, and I promise again, it won’t.  But just see here what Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has to say about being flexible in mind and spirit:

“I have to plan, “you may say.  “I have to think about what I am going to do ten minutes from now, or tomorrow, or it own’t happen.”  Yes, you should make plans in the present moment.  You don’t ever stop thinking, but be watchful to keep yourself open to new incoming ideas that may change what you plan.  Th epoint is to be aware every moment of what you are thinking, because whatever is going on now is on the way to manifesting.  How important it is, then to keep everything you don’t want out of your moment to moment consciousness.  how can you do that if you are not focused here, now?”

See?  So this is perfectly all right to blog about cake pops even if you never planned on doing so.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim teaches about healthty foods, and also states that healthy can include, once in a while, healthy sweet treats.  And these little goodies, are as healthy as sweet treats can be!  First offf, they are gluten free.  Secondly, they were made with lots of love, one of the most important things to consider when prepareing food, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim says.

If you feel like making these, start with a home made gluten free pound cake, I prefer this one from Shirley.  Once cooled off, break it apart into little pieces.  Now comes the fun part.  You can either use any type of frosting/filling for the next step, my favorite is to take a block of cream cheese, and blend in a generous amount of nutella.  Or, blend in some strawberry jam into cream cheese until it’s perfect.  Use a little frosting at first and add until you can roll cake pops of the size you prefer.

For the chocolate ones, I used a glutenfree brownie mix and as the “cement” I used the above mentioned cream cheese with nutella.  But go ahead, try your own creations!
You are creative energy!  As Grandmaster Kim always says!

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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!

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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)

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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!

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Making bread a la Jung SuWon, or, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim style bread

A while ago I promised you that I would write more about bread, give recipes and so forth.  Since I like to keep my promises, here is a “how to” video for you.

In this short video (please do watch with sound on and use the high quality setting on Youtube if available) you’ll see the Jung SuWon way of making bread, using a not so ancient recipe by Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim.

 

 

Now you see why I enjoy making bread so much?

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Jung SuWon breakfast – continued – Buchu Jan

Here is another one of my favorites.  It’s actually not just a breakfast food, but since it’s easy to make, nutritious, and similar to pancakes, I thought I would post it under breakfasts. 

Yes it is like a pancake, although infinitely more healthy and nutritious.  It contains a lot of vitamins, minerals and fiber, and keeps you going for hours. 

One word of caution:  there are many different recipes for this, and I am not saying mine is the one and only one, although I am prejudiced (this is my blog after all!) and I do think this is the best version.  I got this recipe from Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, my Martial Arts teacher at Jung Suwon Academy, and it’s been proven time and again.  I will also mention how you can make this in many different ways.  But first things first.

In a blender, put in one egg, a handful cloves of garlic (you could use less), a couple of very hot peppers cut in chunks and enough water to fill to 3/4 of the blender container.  Blend until very fine, then put in a bowl, and add a little salt and pepper.  With a whisk, mix in either some flour, or some special buchu jan mix you can get at any Korean store.  I personally prefer the mix, the end result tends to be better.  Put in enough to make a thin pancake batter.  Now add some buchu. 

Where do you find Buchu and what is it?  It basically looks like thin wheat grass (and I have a feeling if you used that it would work just fine) and I have only seen it in Korean stores.  Ask for it there.  And while you are there, pick up some fresh sesame leaves.  Clean the buchu, and cut them in about 2 – 3 inch lengths.  Finely cut the sesame leaves and mix in as well.  There should be more vegetables than batter….

Heat some oil in a pan, and when very hot, add some of the mixture.  Spread it out with a couple of forks or spoons until very thin.  When you turn them over, flatten the pancake further with a spatula.  Cook until barely brown on both sides and repeat until batter is gone.

Server with the soy sauce you learned to make earlier in this blog (as used for tofu). 

I have a feeling you’ll be making this a lot!  So what if you cannot get buchu?  You can make this with old kim chi – squeeze it very very dry and cut up into thin strips and this is very delicious as well. 

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