Tofu and Corned Beef in Plum Sauce

Tofu and Corned Beef in Plum Sauce

So two weeks ago was St. Patrick's Day and I bought some Corned Beef, cooked the entire thing but only are half of. The other half I stuck in the freezer and forgot about it. Anyway, I finally had a chance to used it, infusing- Irish and Asian tradition together to come up with this dish.

Ingredients:
1 cup diced cooked corned beef
1 cup diced extra-firm tofu
1/2 cup shredded red onion
a bunch of spinach
1/4 cup 5 Chinese Style 5 Plum Sauce
Oil

Preparation:
1. Heat up oil in a large skillet. Add in onion and saute for 2 minutes.
2. Add in corned beef and tofu. Saute for 5 minutes or until tofu is browned
3. Add in the spinach. Saute till spinach is wilted.
4. Pour in the Plum Sauce. Lower heat and let it simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Serve while still warmed with white rice.

Dash Berlin at Webster Hall

Dash Berlin was at Webster Hall last Saturday, March 19, 2011 and his set was massive. He got the crowd going - singing, dancing and fistpumping from the start until the end. He had a good mix of tune starting with a Disarm Yourself Intro Edit then straight to Till The Sky Falls Down before mixing his own tunes with various tunes for other DJs.

He played his remixes of Never Said Goodbye by Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren, This Night by Filo & Peri and Audrey Gallagher, Reverie by First State and Sarah Howells and Medina's You and I as well as tunes like Arty's Rock N Rolla Remix of Ferry Corsten's Punk, Gareth Emery's Citadel, Calling by Tydi & Audrey Gallager, Cosmic Gate's Fire Wire and Exploration of Space and Come On by Tiesto and Diplo.

Dash Berlin dropped his own tunes as well such as Surround Me, Till The Sky Falls Down, Janiero, Man On The Run and of course closing with my favorite tune, Never Cry Again which got the crowd all singing and me, emotional. Then of course, I started shouting "One More Song" and the crowd followed and he didn't disappoint by playing Waiting with Emma Hewitt.

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Updated: March 20 - Some Good News... 

On March 10, 2:46 PM (Local Time), Japan was struck by a 8.9 magnitude earthquake - the largest quake in Japan's history and fifth most powerful to hit the world. The epicenter of the quake was offshore - 125 kilometers (80 miles) off Japan's east coast and was 10 kilometers (six mikes) deep. But within minutes, the quake unleashed a seven meter (23 feet high) tsunami  along the northeastern coast of Japan. The tsunami traveled six miles inland walloping everything on its path including cars, trucks, buildings, infrastructures as well as large fishing boats and other vessels. It also toppled electric poles, smaller buildings and set up fire all over the affected areas. Videos of the tsunami was aired all over the world and you can just see the destructive power of the tsunami - Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video. And its aftermath - Video1, Video2, Video3, Video4, and Video5.

The quake was followed by aftershocks after aftershocks with largest detected was a 7.0 magnitude. The lastest aftershock was a 6.4 magnitude that hit the east coast of Honshu at 10:15PM local time (March 12, 8:15AM EST). The most effected was the coastal city of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture (Video1, Video2 and Video3).

Photos of the destruction: Globe and Mail, BuzzFeed, National Geographic

• a Massive whirlpool was recorded after the quake off the coast of the town Oarai in Ibaraki Prefecture on March 11. Video
• Japanese public broadcaster NHK has reported more than 900 people killed and 700 missing as of Saturday, March 12, 4:17 PM local time. March 13 - more than 1,800 people have been confirmed dead including 200 bodies found Sunday along the coast. The death toll has reached 4,313 as of Thursday, 1:09AM Tokyo time, according to the National Police Agency Emergency Disaster Headquarters. The Agency also reported that 8,606 people are missing and 2,282 were injured. The death toll as reach 6,911 as of March 18, 8:44pm Tokyo with at least 10,316 people still missing. Japan's National Police has increase the death toll to 7,197 people as of 10:30AM Saturday, March 19 Tokyo Time. As of Sunday, March 20, the death toll has risen to more than 8,600 people with still 12,800 still unaccounted for. 
• March 13 - Authorities estimate that more than 10,000 people died during the quake. The surge was due to the reports that more than 10,000 people were killed in Miyagi prefecture. 
• March 13, 10:38 PM EST - Kyodo News Agency reports that approximately 2,000 bodies have been found in Miyagi Prefecture. 
• The earthquake triggered tsunami warnings and alerts for 50 countries.
• CNN reports that Japanese authorities have declared nuclear emergency in five of its nuclear power plant when the cooling systems were damaged due to the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. Prime Minister Kan has ordered the evacuation around the area of the nuclear power plants. The most damaged was the Fukushimi Daiichi plant with an explosion reported to be its pumping system failing in the plant's Unit 1. They plan to flood the reactor containment structure with sea water to bring the temperature down to safe levels. Video, Video, 
• Iodine tablets are being distributed to the surrounding areas as a precaution after an explosion in Fukushimi Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
• March 13 - more than 180,000 people have been evacuated and up to 160 people may have been exposed as Japan officials raced to staved off multiple reactor meltdowns. 
• March 13, 11:20PM EST - Hydrogen explosion occurred at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant Unit 3 on Monday, March 14, 11:59AM Tokyo Time. People withing the 20 kilometer (12 mile) radius were ordered evacuated. Link 
• March 14 - An "explosive impact" occurred Tuesday morning at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant Unit 3.
• March 14, 10:38PM EST - Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has said that the fourth reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was on fire and that more radiation was released.
• March 15, 5:00AM Tokyo - Tokyo Electric and Power reported a new fire was discovered in the northeastern corner of Reactor 4
• March 17 Tokyo Time  - Japanese military helicopters begun dropping seawater onto nuclear reactor trying to avoid a full meltdowns while plant operators have indicated that they are close to finishing a new power line that could restore cooling systems.
• March 18 - Kyodo News reports that Japan's Nuclear Safety Agency has raised the severity level of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from 4 to 5 on an international scale of 7, the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. 
• March 20 - Reactors 5 and 6 were brought under control cooling temperatures to acceptable levels. There is also progress in reconnecting the units to the electrical grid. Once the emergency is resolved, the government plans to scrapped the entire Fukushima Daiichi power plant. 
• More than 215,000 people are living in 1,350 temporary shelters. Since the quake, more than 1 million households have no water and 5.1 million homes were without power. As of March 18, about 380,000 evacuees were staying at 2,200 facilities according to Kyodo News.
• March 13 - Prime Minister Naoto Kan said electricity would be rationed while rolling blackouts to several cities. 
• A oil refinery in Ichihara, Japan caught fire. Video - March 13: Oil refinery is still on fire 
• Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey said that the quake move Japan's coast by 8 feet and shifted the Earth on its axis (Link).
• March 13 - a 60 year old man swept 10 miles offshore was rescued by a military vessel.
• March 13 - "This is Japan's most severe crisis since the war ended 65 years ago" - Prime Minister Naota Kan. Video
• March 13 - Japanese officials raised their estimate of the magnitude of the quake to 9.0. 
• March 14 - U.S. Geological Survey has upgraded the deadly quake from magnitude 8.9 to 9.0 confirming what the estimation of Japanese officials.
• March 13 - A volcano in Kyushu spewed ash and rock on Sunday. 
• March 13 - Some 10,000 people in the town of Minamisanrikucho have not been accounted for - one of the hardest town hit by the tsunami. Video, Video, 
• March 13 - AIR Worldwide, a risk modeling company, estimates that the earthquake will result to insured losses of nearly $35 billion, making it one of the most expensive catastrophes in history. Link
• March 13 - Video showing minutes before tsunami swept through the town of Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture which holds the Guinness World Record as the town with the deepest breakwater at 207 feet deep and stretches 6,430 feet. (LA Times)
• March 13 - Another raw footage, this time in Kesennuma city, Miyagi Prefecture 
• March 13 - Videos of devastation in Sendai - Video, Video, Video
• New video of tsunami turning Sendai Airport into an island
• March 13 - Before and After images of Japan - Link
• March 13 - Reuters reports that Japanese firms have halted production due to the quake. Reuters
• March 14 - New Videos of destruction brought by the Tsunami - Video
• March 15 - a 6.1 magnitude aftershock was reported at Honshu, Japan at 11:06 PM Tokyo time (10:05AM EST).
• March 16 - ten aftershocks were recorded Wednesday, Tokyo Time, with magnitude being 5.0 and higher.
• March 18  - Japan had 262 aftershocks of magnitude 5 and higher, a record number in Japan's history according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. Link
• March 16 - Emperor Akihito address the nation on Wednesday marking it the first time in its history that an emperor addressed the nation in crisis on television. Link
• March 16 - Tsuna Kimura, a quake survivor, escape the raging tsunami by bike. Video
• March 16, 6:15PM Tokyo - Kyodo News report that 80,000 Japan Self-Defense force and police personnel have been mobilized for the relief efforts.
• March 18 - Kyodo News reports that Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners donated 100 Million Yen to the Japanese Red Cross. As of Friday, 123 countries and 33 international organizations have offered assistance. 
• March 18 - This is truly sad, 30 school children, between the age of 8 and 12 years old,  at Kama Elementary School are still waiting for their parents to pick them up. MailOnline News Report
• March 19, 10:30 AM Tokyo Time - NHK reported that a young man was pulled out of a wreckage alive in Kesennuma without any serious injuries. Something to keep hopes up to find more survivors. News has been retracted, the man has actually been in the evacuation center and just happen to go back home and slept in the wreckage.
• March 20 - Grandmother and grandson were rescued after 9 days under a collapsed wooden home. Link  

Ways to Help

• Red Cross - text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 from your phone or visit their site
• Global Giving - Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund
• Save the Children
• International Medical Corps - text MED to 80888 to donate $10 from your phone.
• Salvation Army - text JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 to donate $10 from your phone
• Mercy Corps - text MERCY to 25283 to donate $10 from your phone
• Convoy of Hope - text TSUNAMI to 50555 to donate $10 from your phone
• AmeriCares

Google has launched the Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake to help connect people

I will continue to update this blogpost as this tragedy continues...

Social Media Experiment

A thought came into my mind while I was watching No Reservations. What would happen when I shut down social media for a couple of days? Would anyone notice it? And can I consider my social media friends as real friends?

So I conducted a Social Media Experiment. The experiment is whether my twitter followers and/or facebook friends would realize that I was gone. Like most experiments, it will only work when you have a supporting facts. I have been using Social Media since the days of Friendster or AIM. Now, I mainly used Twitter and Facebook.

I have been using Facebook since it was made public in 2004 usually to reconnect with my high school and college friends. I do communicate with my Facebook friends either by posting on their walls or through Facebook message. Right now, I have amassed 319 Facebook friends.

As for Twitter, I have been tweeting since the last quarter of 2008. One could say that I am a "tweetaholic." I usually average at least 15 tweets a day which has resulted into a total of 31,000 tweets since 2008. If it was not for a Twitter glitch, I would had 50,000 tweets already. All that tweeting has resulted into 529 followers.

Combining Twitter followers and Facebook friends, I should have a total of 848 social media friends. But of course I don't communicate with all 848 social media friends. So I will assume that I interact with only a third plus subtracting family, relatives and really close friends, I will be down to around 250 social media friends that I interact. Still a high number but lets see what happens.

I started the experiment on during the beginning of the week. The last tweet I sent out was on Monday, March 7 at 10:04 PM and the last post on Facebook was on Tuesday, March 8 at 7:50 AM. And I went silent...

Tuesday pass and nothing. No one noticed that I haven't tweet nor posted something on my wall.

Wednesday came and I got two tweets looking for me. Now those tweets happen to during the span when I usually listen to a radio show online and do track listing. After that, it was all quiet at Twitterland. Same thing at Facebook. That night I theorized that the only time my social media friends will look for me is during the broadcast of two radio show online - Global DJ Broadcast and A State of Trance.

Thursday came and my theory was right. I had one social media friend look for me but was rebutted by another tweet which kinda caught me by surprise. It was basically like a "who cares if his not around" tweet. I had two more who look for me during the latter show which I normally tweet a lot. On the Facebook side, a friend finally posted a message on my wall looking for me after 32 hours of not posting anything. That friend was also the same friend who was the first one who tweeted looking for me.

Friday came and no tweet nor wall post.

I was pretty disappointed with the outcome of this social media experiment. I would have thought that I would have gotten at least 10 messages concerning about my whereabouts. But I didn't fill out one hand!

So now I could answer the three questions I had at the beginning of the experiment.

- What would happen when I shut down social media for a couple of days?
Nothing at all. It did make me realize how invaluable my tweets are or my existence in social media. On the positive side, it allowed me more time to work on other things that don't require tweeting or posting messages online.
- Would anyone notice it?
If you do a percentage on the number of social media friend looking for me versus the total number. It would come to a measly 2% and if you did the total number of social media friends, it doesn't even break the 1% mark (.589%). So theoretically, no one will notice if I stop using social media or even disappear except maybe when I become famous or become an important person.
- And can I consider my social media friends as real friends?
Based on this experiment, I could say that I cannot consider social media friends are real friends. Real friends would have been looking for you if they don't hear from you for awhile. But then again, everyone might be busy with their own lives that I can't expect them to look out for me. I could probably consider only one as a real friend, the only person who was the first one to look for me in Twitter and the only one who posted a message on my Facebook wall. And that person does not even leave in my town, let alone in this country.

So what's next? Well, I continue with my life. I cannot let this experiment deter me from using social media.

I broke my silence this morning....

.....time to tweet away

Okra and Tofu Stew

Okra and Tofu Stew

This is simple to make and its vegetarian.  Okra is a good source of iron and calcium and contains Vitamin A and C. It has a lot of benefits. The Okra fiber is excellent for feeding probiotics which contributes to the health of intestinal tract. It's good for constipation, stabilizing blood sugar and cholesterol level and known to treat lung inflammation, sore throat and irritable bowl syndrome.

Ingredients:
1 cup cut okra
1 cup snap sugar peas
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup cubed tofu
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 cup chopped onion
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 in ginger, chopped
Oil

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a wok, add in the onion, ginger and garlic. Saute till the onion browned.
2. Add in the mushrooms and okra, saute for three minutes. Add in the tofu, and snap peas.
3. Stir in soy sauce, rice vinegar and lime juice. Mix the ingredients.
4. Lower the heat, let it simmer for 5 minutes or until snap peas are cooked and still crunchy.
5. Serve on top of rice.

Enjoy

Tofu Dengaku

Tofu Dengaku is a traditional Japanese tofu dish which is grilled and topped with sweet miso sauce. It is easy to make and ideal if you are vegetarian. This dish needs sake but you can do away with it. Tofu Dengaku makes for a hearty lunch or dinner.

Ingredients:
1 block firmed tofu cut into 1/2 inch rectangles
3 Tbsp miso paste
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp mirin or rice vinegar
2 Tbsp dashi soup stock or water
1 Tbsp sake

Preparation
Mix miso paste, sugar, mirin/rice vinegar, dashi/water and sake in a sauce pan. Simmer it on low heat, stirring constantly until thicken. Set aside.
Heat up a griddle to 200 F degrees. Place the tofu on the griddle and cook for about 8 minutes each side.
Spread miso sauce on each tofu pieces and grill until sauce is warm.

Enjoy!

Tofu Dengaku