A friend asked me, "What’s for dinner tonight," while we were haphazardly running alongside the Strawberry Creek from Barker Hall to Bancroft after attending a seminar about plant pathogen interactions given by Alexander M. Jones.

I quickly replied, "Bruschetta."

She stared at me for two quick seconds and innocently asked, "But didn't you have bruschetta for Thursday's and Wednesday's AND Tuesday's dinner?"

I laughed and responded with, "Yup. I'll take it one step further. Bruschetta was on the menu for Thursday's, Wednesday's, Tuesday's, Monday's, Sunday's and Saturday's dinner AND lunch."

"Uhhh... no green smoothie?"

"Is there a need to ask that question?"

"OF COURSE."

"Green smoothies complemented the bruschetta during some lunches. LaraBars were for breakfast."

"Wow... dude Amelia, you are one strange girl."

"Hahaa… Thanks buddy. I'll take that as a genuine compliment."

To make matters more interesting, this 5 minutes conversation took place while fierce rain drops were relentlessly pelting every CAL student in sandals with no umbrellas like us two girls. And I mean PELTING. To illustrate, let's just say I was completely drenched (hopefully not in acid rain) by the time I unlocked my apartment door this afternoon.

So why bruschetta you may ask.

To thoroughly answer this question, I would need to talk about the Terry's Lab Thanksgiving Potluck last Saturday. As my two lab mates and I were harvesting our Puccinellia distan plants the afternoon before our potluck, the topic of what dish we were planning to bring came up. Being the person who is always eager to teach my friends how to make simple and easy foods (e.g. green smoothies); I eagerly explained a bruschetta dish I had in mind. Their interest quickly increased as I basically assured them it only takes three steps to make this easy dish. By the end of the hour, my girlfriends gave up trying to research for cooking recipes and asked if they could bring bruschetta to the potluck too. I enthusiastically said, "Definitely!"

To be fair, I actually did not know such goodness existed before my boyfriend shared his brilliant bruschetta recipe to me. With his permission, here is the abridged version of the email he sent me regarding how to make bruschetta:

You’ll need:

Bread: Olive pugliese [trust me, people at Berkeley Bowl will know what type of bread this is]. Remove ends, slice 1 inch thick and coat with....

Hummus: Berkeley Bowl has generic humus. You could even get the garlic one.

For the topping:
4 LARGE RIPE tomatoes.
Couple of basil leaves
Olive oil
Olive tapenade - ask them about this. They know what I’m talking about. This stuff is salty so be careful with it.

Here's a pretty good recipe:
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianappetizers/r/easybruschetta.htm

Pugliese and hummus would be more than enough. Add to that some olive tapenade and you’ll have people smiling.

Next we gotta’ teach you how to make the topping. In short, chop up the tomatoes into thick 'cubes'. Put in a bowl and throw in a healthy splash of olive oil and some sliced basil and bam. There you have it. IMPORTANT: DO THIS ONLY A FEW MINUTES BEFORE SERVING.

Healthy additions: Into that simple mix I've also thrown in cabbage [believe you're a big fan of!] and avocado to make a tomato-slaw kind of thingee.

Since one lab mate was obligated to go to SF the morning of the potluck and my other lab mate lived ten minutes from UC Berkeley by car, I offered to make the bruschetta for all of us. They at first protested but I assured them that cutting up a couple more tomatoes won't be a big deal at all.

So after we finished with our harvest, we stopped by Berkeley Bowl for the ingredients. Before we entered the store, my lab mates basically told me that I need to tell them exactly what to do since they did not have the foggiest idea how to make bruschetta. Thus as their blind friend leading two blind helpers, we started a 2 hour shopping spree at 5:45 pm on a Friday night.

To save you the boredom of reading about our exhausting search for some strange Olive tapenade ingredient and the agonizing trouble we went through to choose perfect tomatoes, let’s just say that we left Berkeley Bowl with:

5 loaves of bread, 15 large (unripe) tomatoes, 3 bundles of basil, a 34 oz of extra virgin olive oil bottle (WHY Berkeley Bowl needs to carry A GAZZZILLION different kinds of EVOO is beyond my comprehension), 3 glass jars of questionable tapenade wannabes, and 3 family sized hummus containers.

I know I know. NOW you’re probably thinking that I’m one loco girl for suggesting that we buy so much food for a potluck of only 12 people. I have to admit, the art of shopping for groceries and clothes is just way too difficult for me to understand. In my defense, I figured that more is always better. I told myself that it would be bad if I risk the chance of letting people down by not having enough bruschetta. Just in case my lab mates end up falling madly in love with my bruschetta and ask for thirds, fourths or quite possibly sixths. Unfortunately, I never stop to think that Professor Terry will make sure sure there is going to be a plethora of food at the party. Or that everyone is planning to bring food...

It quickly became apparent that my ambitious bruschetta ‘cooking’ frenzy was a tad bit on the excessive side. But that was perfectly okay since I spoiled myself silly with delicious hummus and questionable tapenade wannabes for practically a week now! =)

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, maybe you too could whip up some bruschetta and share the goodness of this vegan dish with your family and friends!
.

Continue reading "Bruschetta" »

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 8:44 PM | Permalink

Recently, I was pleasantly surprised by Alex Tellez's spontaneous comment on my blog about my daring attempts at drinking green liquids for lunch. It was quite an honor that he took time out of his busy schedule to read my random- most oftentimes crazy- posts! Since he was the sole person responsible for motivating me to change my sodium enriched canned foods and take outs eating habits, I felt he deserved a long detailed explanation of the many times I stared at my revolting green smoothies- thinking how in the world am I going to force myself to swallow another cold vegetable soup?!?!

As you can imagine- or will after you see the pictures I took of my first few smoothies- I was more than eager to discuss the seemingly endless mistakes that I made during my love/hate experience with my first couple revolting vegetable drinks. Thankfully, I quickly discovered that the secret to blending DELICIOUS green smoothies was to disproportionately add more fruits than vegetables. I thought you might find the green smoothie narrative I wrote to Alex an interesting read. Thus I am going to take the liberty and share an excerpt to you:

Before I start listing off the bizarre combinations of greens I used to make my smoothies, let me just admit that my first couple smoothies required so much determination and focus to finish. I need to thank my compulsive obsession to increase efficiency in all aspects about my life with assembly lines and mass productions for the pain I endured when I first started my green liquid diet. Instead of just an 8 oz [I actually think the cup is 16 oz now] drink of THICK fibrous clumps of purple and green cauliflowers, celery, bok choy, spinach, cabbage, bananas, avocados with milk and water, I had to finish about 40 oz [okay this was a serious understatement on my part!] of this stuff. Here are some pictures of my “masterpieces”:

My roommates’ inability to get pass their first two sips of my concoction was a testament to the biting bitterness I overcame. You probably would understand the immense DELIGHT that I felt when I finally finished this tub full of greens:

For the past couple weeks, I have been really good at drinking a green smoothie at least once a day. I quickly learned how to mask the intense bitterness with a plethora of fruits. Instead of a 1:5 ratio of fruits to vegetables, the ratio increased to 3:1 sometimes even 5:1. My best green combo so far was:

avocado + banana + mint choc chip ice cream + bok choy + milk + water

Additionally, after one of my more intense running session, I decided to use papaya as a base ingredient for a smoothie. Such an awesome decision! Hopefully you would think the combination of papayas + bananas + celery + cauliflowers + avocados to be as delicious as I did!

I usually don’t take photos of my drinks, however the ones I’ve shared above were extraordinary in some way or another. Hope they entertained you!

Just this past weekend, I fell madly in love with raw cacao nibs, raw-eos cookies, almond butter and especially COCONUT CREAM PIE LaraBars! Words cannot describe their delightful taste and texture on my eager taste buds. And as you probably have guessed, these four new loves of mine blend extremely well in green smoothies :) Eating is finally FUN again!

At the moment, I am slowly trying to influence everyone around me to try my new diet. Although, the resistance is quite strong, it makes me happy to know my parents are becoming more aware about different healthy eating choices. I totally won my dad over by pulling the “but I want you to live forever daddy” trick =P. Not to put my parents on the spot, but my mom's enthusiastic picture text message regarding the spanking new blender my dad bought for her anniversary gift seriously made me GIDDY like a silly school girl!

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 5:22 PM | Permalink

Before skipping school to attend the SFO Breast Cancer 3Day, I spammed all my Professors and GSIs with emails excusing my absence from class and to make up any work that I will miss. Let me just say...Boy was that a stressful process!!! Juggling the workload I had at that time with deadlines meant for two weeks later is something I never want to repeat. Without the accommodating and understanding responses from my Professors and GSIs, I would have forfeited about one fourth of my final grades. So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Berkeley teachers.

As part of our agreement, my Japanese sensei requested a written email from my team captain for proof of my involvement with the 3Day. Faren Shear's beautifully articulated emotions and ideas perfectly explain the essence of the Breast Cancer 3Day cause. If you have the time, please read her email and visit her site!

On October 2-4, 2009 Amelia and I will be just 2 of over 300 crew members supporting the walkers on the San Francisco Breast Cancer 3 Day. It’s a 60-mile walk over three days to raise money for breast cancer. The net proceeds will support the combined efforts of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) Breast Cancer Fund in their mission to fund access to care and find a cure for breast cancer. We’ll be serving as crew members on a Pit stop team, giving our time and service to the walkers for three days.

When I heard that one in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer, I knew I had to do something about it. I don’t have a lot of money, and I can’t find a cure for cancer, but I found that this was something that I could do. About 40,000 will die from the disease. That’s why I’m doing this - to do something bold about breast cancer.

I am very thankful that Amelia has decided to give her time and effort to this cause, I could not do this job supporting the walkers without her. She has already been working hard planning for the weekend and also fund raising for the cause. I know she will miss her commitments at school, but this is a life experience that I look forward to sharing with her and know from my past work with the 3 Day that there are always many important life lessons to be learned in the service of others.

I am now officially not a 3Day "virgin" anymore. I want to come up with an eloquent entry to express my sincere appreciation for the memorable Breast Cancer experience the SFO 3Day blessed me with. Unfortunately with the stress of school and research, I am short on time to reflect and analyze all the complicated emotions that surfaced in my head during the closing ceremony... I do not know when I can fully understand their significance. However when I do, I promise I will share with you. The 3Day is seriously both physically and emotionally draining. But the life's lessons and experiences I picked up are invaluable! Thank you Breast Cancer 3Day for showing me that the goodness in humanity still exists in a world filled with greed and contempt.

In the words of Mark Henderson, one of my fellow Pit Stop 4 teammate:

[I am] feeling so blessed to have been able to support the almost 1,500 walkers who tromped, limped, and staggered through SF and Marin county the past 3 days. I laughed with them, hugged them, and even cried with them. I am so grateful I could do that. I also worked with some totally awesome ladies in my crew - thanks girls! Great day to be alive!... [I am] thanking God [that] I was blessed to work with such an awesome group of "strangers" that came together and became the most righteous, the most rad, happenin', bitchin', groovy, loving, caring , and hardest working groups on the road.

Echoing Mark's comments, I too was grateful for the opportunity to laugh, hug and cry with the ladies and GENTLEMEN at the 3Day. As I sat along the curb at Crissy fields waiting for my ride back to Berkeley, I realized that I unknowingly interacted with thousands of unnamed heroes that weekend. For four days (not three since crew members spend an extra day before the walkers arrive preparing for the event at Cow Palace), we lived in a bubble full of optimistic hope and compassionate love while basking in the 'hearts of grace' of survivors, walkers, crew members, staff administrators, volunteers from the community, family members and so many more people.

It is disheartening to know that these people are affected by breast cancer in some way other another. Cancer really does not discriminate against race, culture, age, gender, or social status. With odds like 1 out of 8 women developing breast cancer, there is an urgency to discover a cure. I can confidently say that my life changed after participating in this 3Day with my mommy.

Please help me raise awareness about the Breast Cancer cause.
Because…
Everyone deserves a lifetime.

Continue reading "Breast Cancer: Everyone deserves a lifetime" »

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 7:51 PM | Permalink

Green liquid for lunch or die trying. Yup, another one of my many crazy random summer goals. Not that I want to sound dramatic, but this diet is really difficult to maintain!

Let me back track.

At the beginning of summer, I promised myself that I would actively engage in activities that would help me get back into the same physical fitness I once had. I told myself if I could train for badminton and tennis 5+ hours a day, 6 days a week in high school, I could definitely go to the gym and eat healthy on a regular basis.

So when my friend sent me a vegan/running blog that his freshman college dorm mate writes to share about his progress and feelings, I was so excited! Inspiration comes in the oddest shapes and times.

I probably read Alex Tellez’s entire blog, http://yhprunning.blogspot.com/ at least three times to note for tips on which vegetables to purchase and how intense my work outs should be. After careful deliberation, I decided to aim for the ability to run nonstop for an hour and to do…. ONE pull up by the end of the summer in addition to maintaining a semi-vegan diet.

Don’t laugh at my somewhat pathetic sounding goals. PULL UPS are surprisingly really taxing. I started working on my arms with the 2.5 lbs free weights at the beginning of June. By the end of July, I could easily handle the 5 lbs weights. When I told my brothers my progress, they would not stop teasing me for being such a weakling. UGH. This supposedly manageable goal was beginning to turn into such a drag.

Fortunately, I accomplished greater progress with my running. I started the summer being able to handle running 20 minutes before needing to slow the pace down to a brisk walk. Thankfully, I could manage a 45 minutes run by mid July.

About my green liquid diet. Let’s just say that following through with a goal is never an easy feat. Blending many exotic combinations of vegetables and fruits to drink as a smoothie was quite enjoyable--at first. I mean, I am always down for new adventures. Unfortunately, I lasted for three days before I downgraded to a salad for lunch or die trying. I think I am more of a chewing person than drinking person. At first, this second new "diet" seemed good. I convinced myself that salads were so delicious. I concentrated on how the crisp, succulent tomatoes, butter lettuce, and celery made me feel really happy. I added in mushrooms for good measures too!

However by day 5, my constantly hungry stomach kept screaming in pain for curly fries, pad thai, ice cream, and every delicious food that I love. Or was it my mind playing tricks on my stomach? I eventually made an executive decision to add a teaspoon of peanut butter and one Fiber One granola bar as a side dish to my salads in order to keep my sanity. I told myself that this move is not an acceptance of defeat since I did need the proteins and more fiber is always a blessing.

It is now nearing the end of August. On my low days, I berated myself for possessing this habit of tormenting myself with unnecessary goals and challenges. The endless list of excuses I made to avoid the gym seems so ridiculous now. Nonetheless on my high days, I often caught myself feeling complete that I had a purpose to fulfill.

At the moment, I am quite satisfied with my results. These summer adventures taught me a valuable lesson about life. One can definitely discover inspiration about dedication, perseverance and patience through the most bizarre goals and people. People just need to keep an open mind about outlandish ideas like green liquid for lunch.

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 1:24 PM | Permalink

Please support me as I take an amazing journey in the fight against breast cancer! The Breast Cancer 3-Day is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. Net proceeds benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure and National Philanthropic Trust, funding important breast cancer research, education, screening, and treatment.

Our Story

My mommy's best friend, Laurie, is a breast cancer survivor for more than a decade. Since the day of the diagnosis, their lives have become intertwined with the national breast cancer efforts to prevent and possibly cure this cancer. Along the way, they bonded with hundreds of new friends, but also lost many precious buddies too. This year, I am finally old enough to experience what they see and feel at these 3 day events! Please support our cause with any kind gestures; either through raising awareness of breast cancer or with monetary donations. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

History

Here is a list my mommy wrote about her 3Day history:

I began by 3 Day journey in 2000 walking the LA 3 Day with my friend Laurie, also Pit 4 crew this year. We started off with a bang as it rained buckets that week-end, in fact, we did all 22.47 miles of day 3 in the pouring rain! What a way to start!
2001 I walked in San Francisco with my cousin
2002 Laurie and I walked San Diego
2003 Laurie and I did lunch crew in San Diego
2004 Laurie and I did sweep van for LA what a blast that was!
2005 walked San Diego met Mette training.
2006 walked San Diego again
2007 lunch crew in San Diego with Laurie & Mette
2008 walked Seattle with Mette, we grew bored with the flat, warm, ocean views of San Diego;-)
2009 rocking Pit 4 in San Francisco with Laurie, Mette, all of you and for the first time my daughter-Amelia- who lives in Berkeley.

Intense huh? I am so excited to finally be able share this part of my mom's life with her!

http://www.the3day.org/goto/amelia

Continue reading "Join me in the fight against breast cancer" »

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 12:46 PM | Permalink

I never imagined that my summer could be an endless series of tests in the classrooms on top of challenges in the laboratory. When I signed up for Medical Ethnobotany (ME) lecture and lab, I ignorantly thought that my love for plants and dedication to science would easily allow me to ace the two classes on top of carrying out six research lab projects in the greenhouse and Koshland. Boy was I mistaken! By the last week of session A and beginning of session C, I struggled to survive as MCB 102 Biochemistry (biochem) readings drowned me with the unwelcomed pressure. For the last 1.5 weeks of June, my life literally revolved about ME lab final, biochem quiz, ME lecture final, biochem midterm, research lab meetings, tissue culturing, germination projects in the greenhouse, on top of a 40 page literature review for Professor Terry.

Total FML status.

Although I ended up acing my two session A classes, life would still not calm down. By living on 3-4 hours of sleep each night for a month, my immune system was apparently compromised when I caught a cold from my roommate. A visit to the urgent care unit at the Tang informed me that I developed pneumonia. Who is lame enough to get pneumonia in the middle of summer?! I guess, I am. The fevers were bearable, but the coughing up blood part was gross.

Thank goodness June is over. I just finished my second biochem midterm... Life is finally bearable again.

No matter how difficult life appeared to be, I kept telling myself that, "when life gets tough, suck it up and deal with it." Please don't quote me on this. I think I stole it from someone or some site on the Internet.

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 5:57 PM | Permalink

June 25th, 2009 marked a surreal and numb day for the young and old who were touched by the brilliance of the King of Pop. With no indication from his family or friends that Michael was suffering from any health issues, news of Michael Jackson's abrupt death stunned the world. Although with pictures and videos of our legend plastered on newspapers, websites, fan blogs, and youtube, many still experienced a difficult time processing that Michael was... gone.

People claim that life is fragile. It is so cruel to witness how a person can be alive and enjoying the sunshine one minute, and then locked up in a cold refrigerator the next, waiting for his/her funeral.

This issue became personal when I lost my best friend on Tuesday, June 16th, at 5:30pm. Especially devastating when this unpleasant surprise came right after two grueling back to back IB 117 lab and lecture midterms on top of my research lab projects. With an average of four hours of sleep each night for the past three weeks, I thought I could finally relax for a couple hours after I handed Professor Carlson my red scantron.

But this blissful thought slipped through my fingers like sand in a tightly clenched fist as I strained to comprehend what my sobbing mom was trying to tell me over the phone. Although she did not mean to, she exponentially alarmed and scared me as she kept on stalling the inevitable news by asking me, "where are you, are you far from your apartment, is there a place you can sit down, etc." I immediately thought that my baby Australian cattledog experienced complications during her 4th knee surgery. Never would I come to the conclusion that Max, my bubba, my very first dog, the big St. Bernard mixed with a Bull Terrier, who was my shadow just died 5 minutes before my mother’s phone call. To say the least, this curve ball really caught me off guard.

My heart cried as I processed the information my mother was forcing me to hear. I wanted to scream, but all I could muster were these useless questions:

"How could he have an unknown tumor in his spleen? Why would it even rupture? He cannot just leave! I need him, please don’t take him away from me. He was still playing with the water hose on Sunday…. Why would he be “dead” on Tuesday? He doesn’t belong in that refrigerator mmmooommm!"

Although more than a week has passed, I still silently cry at night. I need my buddy so much. No matter how much I beg God to please do not take him away from me, I must now accept the fact that he can no longer guard the bathroom door to protect me now. Or snuggle with me as I read before bed. Or wag his tail when I enter the room. Or stick his wet nose up to my face to kiss me...

My parents cremated him three days ago. My only solace is that he is finally home, safe and sound.

I really did love him.

Continue reading "RIP" »

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 6:06 PM | Permalink

Looking for a spontaneous adventure around Berkeley that does not consist of grabbing boba and chilling at the Asian Ghetto? Are you limited on funds and time? If so, check out the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden!!! With aromatic flowers in full bloom this summer, our botanical garden is the place to explore with a few buddies or that good looking lab partner. The 30 minute hike up the hill to the garden is a fabulous way to bond and warm up before touring our:

"...worldwide collection [that] features plants of documented wild origin from nearly every continent, with an emphasis on plants from Mediterranean climates (California, Mediterranean Basin, Australia, South Africa, and Chile). The arrangement of the outdoor collections is primarily geographic by continent of origin or by region including Asia, Australasia, California, Eastern North America, Mediterranean, Mexico/Central America, New World Desert, South America, and Southern Africa. The Garden holds one of the largest and most diverse collections in the United States."

Admission : $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and $2 for children ages 3 through 12. The Garden is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM year round, Tropical House closes at 4:00. However, UC Berkeley students, professors, and staffs get in for free :)

For more information, please visit:
http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/mission.shtml

Continue reading "Best place for the first date... and it's FREE!" »

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 5:29 PM | Permalink