Team KoalaBunny's Adventures

So yours truly has been doing a lot of soul searching since we moved to Taiwan.

I've come to realize that I'm drinking a lot of humble sauce courtesy of God. I've been through so much frustration and challenges and still going through them since our move.

My biggest frustration was in not getting a job in Taiwan. You'd think someone with a PhD from an Ivy League university from the U.S. could easily find a job in Taiwan. Nope, I've sent out tons of resumes on Taiwan's version of indeed.com, online job forums, and even the ones in the local language (the 104.com.tw). The only ones I've gotten back are tutoring centers that can't offer stable hours nor health insurance for that matter.

Mostly having a job would solve our problem with getting myself and our kids insurance. While Taiwan, in my opinion, has one of the best health systems in the world, as it is socialized, it is really hard to get into it if you're not employed or if you're employer doesn't help you to get it. People tell me that the Taiwan government recently has required the employers to help their employee and dependent families to get health insurance, this hasn't quite materialized in our case.

So, that kind of forced me to become a stay-at-home parent. While being a SAHM (stay-at-home mom) I've come to realize that our son's development is not quite where it needs to be in terms of communication and social skills. Because we wanted our kids to be bilingual we figured it was fine if they were a bit delayed in speech but by the time when BJ turned to be 18 months and still didn't have enough word counts with both language combined I was a bit worried. It was also a bit concerning that he seems to ignore us when we call his name in whichever language. Also that fact that he doesn't have eye contact and seem to be object focused had me worried beyond the normal parent paranoid levels.

Which as a nurse has me wondering perhaps I'm over analyzing because 1) I'm a parent, show me a parent who is not paranoid 2) I'm a health care professional and probably overly sensitive but I also wondered maybe I'm just in denial because 1) We have no health care insurance and it will be a lot of work tackling this 2) I'm really hoping our kids are just normal. I finally had the courage to do some screening/diagnostic tools as most screening/diagnostic tools just ask parents questions and I'm a parent and also a health care professional it seemed fine for me to do that because mind you, we have no health insurance over here (I pretty much didn't have a choice). Anyhow, so the test came out to place our son in the medium/high risk group and just added to my frustration.

I'm coming to realize that we need a lot of help and part of me has just been too prideful in asking for help, whether from God or family/friends. It is exhausting being a stay-at-home parent as the kids constantly need supervision as otherwise they'd end up dead, lost or kidnapped. I have to put BJ on a halter and leash when we go out because he just is not very aware of settings (another slight suspicion for autism) and we've already lost him before. To be honest, I'm feeling kind of lost myself.

It seems if a recipe calls for Hoisin sauce, that recipe is a keeper. So this one is becoming a favorite.
I chanced upon it from the Better Homes and Gardens site:
https://www.bhg.com/recipe/hoisin-glazed-tofu-green-beans/

Of course, I always make a bit of modification so here's what I did but I'm cooking for at least 8 people here.
Ingredients:

•  4 lbs (usually 2 large packages or half of the restaurant sized package) extra-firm tofu, drained (instruction in steps)
•  1/4 cup water
• 1 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce 
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp honey 
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger - or tsp of grounded ginger
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 lbs fresh green beans, trimmed and halved lengthwise 

Instructions:

1. Cut tofu lengthwise into four 1-inch thick slices. Lay tofu slices on a double layer of paper towels. Top with another double layer of paper towels. Weigh down with a plate topped with cans to remove excess water from tofu. Let stand for at least 10 minutes. Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes.
2. Meanwhile, stir together the water, hoisin, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and honey
3. In an extra-large skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add tofu. Cook, without stirring until tofu begins to brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn and cook 4 to 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally until tofu is golden brown on all sides.
4. Transfer tofu to a plate. Add remaining 1 Tbsp. oil to skillet. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds. Add beans; cook 4 minutes or until barely tender. Return tofu to skillet. Add hoisin mixture; bring to boiling, stirring to coat. Serve with rice.

So eggplants will be our main ingredient for today and I came up with this recipe after looking at several recipes (here: http://honestandtasty.com/persian-seared-eggplant-and-tomato-beef-gheimeh-baademjaan/ here: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/eggplant-lovers-stuffed-eggplant-263672 and here: https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/roasted-eggplants-with-garlic/)
 I was originally going to combine this as a fusion dish of Asian and Persian roasted eggplant but just did two dishes instead.

Persian dish that I can't pronounce the name of:

• 1 Eggplant
• 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1-1.5 pounds of Lean Ground Beef
• 1 White or Yellow Onion, pureed in a food processor or shredded with a box grater
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 2 teaspoons Sea Salt
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 5 ounces (⅔ cup) of tomato paste
• 1 large Tomato (or 2 small/medium ones), rinsed and cut into thick wedges
• 1 cup of Greek Yogurt
• 1 tablespoon (approximately 4 to 5 cloves) of freshly Minced Garlic

1. Rinse the eggplant. Remove its stem and slice the eggplant into ¼-inch thick slices. Then cut into a bit larger than bite-sized pieces.
2. Put water into a large pan to an inch deep. Add in the eggplant into a single layer. Turn heat to high and place cover over pan. Once the water starts seeming like it wants to boil, reduce heat to a simmer (most likely medium heat). After a couple minutes, flip them to cook the other side for another 2 minutes or so. The eggplant should soften and may slightly change in color. Remove the eggplant to a clean plate. Work in batches if needed.
3. Rinse and dry the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan on med-high heat. Swirl oil around in pan to coat the surface.
4. Add the eggplant to the pan in a single layer and don’t touch the eggplant for 2 minutes while it sears on one side. After 2 minutes, flip the eggplant and allow to cook for another 2 minutes before removing to a clean plate. Work in batches if needed (add more olive oil for each new batch).
5. In a mixing bowl, combine the beef, onion, turmeric, salt, and pepper.
6. Add the beef mixture to the pan on high heat and use a spatula to break up the beef into small pieces.
7. Allow to cook for about 5-10 minutes or until the beef has browned and begins sauteing in its own natural fat.
8. At this point, mix in the tomato paste.
9. Mix in the eggplant and fresh tomato.
10. Turn heat to med-low and mix occasionally for 5 minutes.
11. To make the garlic yogurt, mix the garlic into the yogurt. Serve a large dollop of it on top of the beef mixture in your own plate that you’ll enjoy with bread, pasta, rice, or quinoa

Asian garlic eggplant

• 3 long purple eggplants, Japanese eggplants
• 3 whole garlic, peeled
• ½ cup of oil
• 2 tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. salt
• ½ tsp. Chinese five spice powder
• 2 green onions, green part only, finely chopped
• garlic chili sauce or other sauce (optional for a spicy taste)

1. In a small bowl, mix oil with salt, light soy sauce and Chinese five spice powder.
2. Wipe the eggplant clean and slice them in half lengthwise. With the tip of a knife, score the flesh deeply in a diamond cross-hatch pattern by making several long cuts, cutting at a steep angle, and then rotating the eggplant to make another set of similar cuts. This step helps the eggplants to absorb the oil and seasonings.
3. Heat oven to 210 degree C. Then brush ½ of the oil mixture on the surface and then roast for 15 minutes. Take out and brush the remaining oil mixture. Continue roasting for another 15 minutes until the eggplants become soft and the edges are slightly curly.

1. Smash garlic cloves and then finely chop. Mix with 1 tablespoon of oil, ¼ teaspoon of Chinese five spice and pinch of salt.
2. Take the eggplants out and spread the garlic evenly on the surface. Roast for 10 minutes again.
3. Sprinkle chopped green onion and serve hot. If you want a spicy taste, add fresh chopped pepper or your favorite chili sauce.

We've done our fair share of road trips with kids that are only about 2-3 hours long to visit grandparents and this time we've visiting friends and attending a wedding so thought I'd blog about our experience when we don't have our own car.

Phil is put in charge of renting the car so he can explain to you how he did it within our budget. We had the option of going by Megabus, train or renting our own car by the way.

As usual, I'm put in charge of packing most other things. Back home in the Midwest what we found worked really well for us when we went on these short road trips was having a list of things we needed to pack and do before we left.

Here's our packing list:
Snacks for the kids - dried fruits (any kinds your kids likes and can eat, we like raisins and berries), crackers (any kind they usually eat animal, vanilla wafers, ginger crisp etc), nuts (our toddler can do these, our 1 year old not so much), beef jerky, granola bars (or fig newtons) and cereal (usually cheerios).

Clothes for the kids - our trips are usually over the long weekends and this one is a wee bit longer so I'm packing mini capsule wardrobe for summer month of being really hot.

First Aid - with kids you never know, so I have a small first aid kit (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E7KBHSM/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?psc=1), motrin for kids, ibuprofen for adults, allergy medications, sun screen with SPF of 50 and mosquito repellent for the summer.

Toys - we have two backpack of toys for the kids that includes cars, dolls, crayons, paper etc.

 The reason for our big move to Taiwan is a long story to explain. I (Linda) will do my best to do that here.

If you go back to our first post with our story you'll read that we got married as we both sensed a call from God to be missionaries to Asia. Fast forward to right after we got married, my dad received a diagnosis for plasma cell leukemia which is a rare and aggressive form of multiple myeloma. Being a nurse, I knew my dad didn't have long so we moved back to be near my parents. God provided a job that fit my PhD dissertation perfectly at my mother's alma mater. We settled into a comfortable lifestyle, the pay and schedule was great as it enabled as to live with just me working and Phil going to seminary and taking care of the kids.

I thought my dad had 3-5 years but it turned out he only had one. At that time I was pregnant with Joy during my dad's last days and it was stressful to say the least. Suffice to say, our time was really stressful and moving to the area we didn't find many friends. The town we were in seem to have this attitude of "if you haven't been here for a decade, we can't accept you or befriend" and maybe small towns just have that attitude which I didn't notice when I lived there back when I was a child.

Two years after we moved back near my parents, a year after my dad passed away, we begun to get restlessness. Perhaps it was from all the stress, perhaps from the lack of a good community but we just sensed that we needed to move. We talked with several missions agencies and I even did a field visit to China but just sensed that wasn't where God was calling us at this time.

Unfortunately, none of the churches or ministries Phil was interested in gave him the call. So we thought perhaps we just needed to stay where we were and instead gave a lot of money towards missions. If Phil could finish his PhD at my university he could end up earning a great income and our two incomes put together could enable us to support a family on missions full time, alas that wasn't to be either. I couldn't believe they rejected his application. Then circumstances just came to be that Phil was asked to go back to the school he was teaching in Taipei and that's how we came to see the move to Taipei as the next step from the Lord.

Our hope as we move to Taiwan is to save the world through small acts. As Saint Mother Teresa (or Saint Teresa of Avila depends on who you ask) says: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." We've felt the call from God to go abroad and always thought we'll do something great for Him but recently we've realized that maybe all we're called to be is to live authentically as Christ followers and show small acts of kindness with great love.

I get the feeling that God is refining us with this move, that He'll help us to come to know ourselves, accept ourselves and be ourselves. 

For awhile this blog became my recipe repository. I think it is because I needed this blog to be the recipe repository at that time. My father, who will always be rememberd fondly as a chef, was dying of terminal cancer at that time and I needed a way to connect and remember him. To this end the blog will still be a recipe repository from time to time but it originally did start out as the record keeper of our adventures. Now it will get to be that again, the record keeper of our memories that we would like to hold onto that's similar to what we have in our emails. We didn't do it intentionally but when koala and I started dating, it was through emails and we now have hundreds of pages of emails recording exactly how our courtship went down up in the cloud storage.
But back to the blog, it will be a place that we will keep our close family and friends informed of our adventures as we're doing life apart from you all. It is a way to keep connected. Just like how this blog helped me to still feel connected to my dad after he passed away. Only I hope we'll get to see you all on this side of heaven for a long while.
I suppose if this blog had a mission/purpose/value statement it would be to help us to stay connected to our loved ones. 

Yes, we are cleaning out our freezer and I thought we'd clear oursevles of seafood as we'll be heading off to where there are fresh seafood :)

Here's the popcorn shrimp I cobbled together from various recipes:

Have 3 bowls ready for dipping the shrimp into:

First bowl of 1/2 cup of flour
Second bowl of 2 eggs
Third bowl with the following contents

2 tsp Old bay seasoning
1/2 tsp of garlic
1/2 tsp of parsley
1/8 of sea salt
1/8 oninon powder
 1 cup of crumbs
 1/2 cup of grated cheese

Here's how it turned out:


We're not affiliated with Line characters, just our usual bunny is on vacation?

We had chicken teriyaki the other day and then I discovered some leftover salmon in the freezer so made this recipe that was a big hit with the kids (I suspect is all that brown sugar)

https://chefsavvy.com/easy-teriyaki-salmon/

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 4 salmon filets, skinless
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon water
• green onions for garnish, if desired
• sesame seeds for garnish, if desired

 Marinade:

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon ginger, minced
• ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce (It is important to use low sodium. I find regular makes the sauce too salty)
• ⅛ cup water
• 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, ⅛ cup water, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil to a medium bowl. Place salmon filets in the ziplock bag and marinate for 30 minutes. I made another batch for the reserved marinade that's used later.

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add salmon filets making sure not to overcrowd pan.
2. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side until desired doneness.
3. Meanwhile heat the reserved marinade in the saucepan and bring to a simmer.
4. Add cornstarch and water to a small bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture to the marinade and simmer until thickened.
6. Serve immediately with the teriyaki sauce drizzled on top as well as green onions and sesame seeds for garnish, if desired

Excuse the mess on my stove...things get a bit sloppy when you have kids :D

We were really in the mood for chinese noodles so I made a variation of this recipe from the site here:

https://omnivorescookbook.com/homemade-zha-jiang-mian-fried-sauce-noodles/

Ingredients:
lb of ground beef
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
200 grams (or 7 ounces like 1 cup) sweet bean sauce
100 milliliters (like 1/2 cup) vegetable oil
400 milliliters (around 2 cups) water
1 small onion, chopped
240 gram (9 ounces however much of the box of american pasta) fresh noodles
(optional) stir fried tomato and egg
1 cucumber, julienned

Directions:
Add beef, ginger and rice wine into a large bowl. Mix well.
Add sweet bean sauce to a medium sized bowl. Slowly blend in water and stir constantly, until water is fully incorporated.
Heat a wok (or a heavy bottomed skillet) over medium high heat. Add oil and wait until oil is hot, 2 to 3 minutes. Add beef and stir constantly, until the surface turns mostly white. Swirl in sweet bean sauce. Turn to medium heat and keep stirring constantly, until the sauce turns almost black, about 10 mins. If the sauce thickens too quickly and starts to feel like it’s sticking to the bottom of the wok, slowly blend in warm water, 1/2 cup at a time. Reduce the heat if the wok gets too hot.
Add onion into the sauce and keep stirring, until fully cooked but still crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Stop heat and transfer the sauce to a large bowl.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to instructions.
Add noodles to serving bowls. Top noodles with sauce, cucumber, and stir fried tomato and egg.
Serve warm.

We had a lot of mandarins and yogurt left so I tried out Martha Stewart's recipe for orange yogurt cake:
https://www.marthastewart.com/948283/orange-yogurt-cake


Unsalted butter, softened, for pan (be sure to put lots of butter and the cake will just slip right out)
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (I only used half as much yogurt)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon grated orange zest, plus 1 tablespoon orange juice (I just used 2 little mandarins and blended them with a baby food masher)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan. Stir flour, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, salt, yogurt, oil, orange and juice, egg, and vanilla in a bowl. Pour into pan. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Had this great recipe

http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a45873/copycat-olive-garden-zuppa-toscana-recipe/

Ingredients:

1 lb. Hot Italian sausage, casings removed (We just bought the Italian sausage that looked like ground beef)
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
kosher salt - (just a pinch)
Freshly ground black pepper (or whatever spice you like)
6 c. low-sodium chicken broth
4 large russet potatoes, diced
1 bunch curly kale, leaves stripped and chopped (chopped was fine)
3/4 c. heavy cream
4 slices cooked bacon, chopped
1/4 freshly grated Parmesan, for serving (I didn't have this)

Directions:
In a large pot over medium heat, cook sausage, breaking up with the back of a wooden spoon, until browned and no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate to drain.
Add onion to pot and let cook until soft, 5 minutes, then add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken broth and potatoes and cook until potatoes are tender, 23 to 25 minutes.
Stir in kale and let cook until leaves are tender and bright green, 3 minutes, then stir in heavy cream, sausage, and bacon and simmer 5 minutes more.
Season with pepper, garnish with Parm, and serve

Here's the final product and it was delicious!

The recipe comes from genius kitchen but I made modifications with spices that I preferred or had on hand and with different proportions which I guess technically makes it my recipe:
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/crock-pot-whole-chicken-33671

Ingredients: I bought a 5 lb spring whole chicken that was on sale
Spices:
4 tsp sea salt
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp cumin 
1 tsp garlic powder

1. In a small bowl, combine the spices.
2. Remove any giblets from chicken and clean chicken.
3. Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.
4. Place in resealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. (Try not to skip this step as the chicken comes our so much better)
5. When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.
6. Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make its own juices.
7. Cook on low 4-8 hours (usually 8 for me)

Here's the photo with koala's approval: I'd show you the whole chicken but it was devoured so quickly ><

The koala had bought crushed pineapple instead of pineapple pieces. So we I got this from the following website but with modifications: https://www.momontimeout.com/practically-perfect-pineapple-cake/ 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 20 oz can Dole crushed pineapple in 100% juice (do not drain) 2 eggs Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and baking soda. Mix in vanilla extract, crushed pineapple, and eggs until combined. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely. I did an upside down pineapple cake sticking the round pineapple rings I had leftover with mints.