My Cancer Blog

I finally took the time to remove all my old cancer posts and transfer them over to a new blog. My new blog is a bit more private.

In the beginning of my journey, I got so much strength from reading other survivor's online journals. I do want to give back to the cancer community, but I want to do it in a more private manner.

If you or someone you know would like to continue reading my cancer journal please email me at: koreancuisine@gmail.com for an invitation.

Just give me a short intro and why you want to read. It may be hard to believe, but I'm actually quite private and would like to 'screen' the people who read my inner most thoughts. Hope you understand!

http://livingacc.blogspot.com/

One Year Later...

Today marks a year from the day when I was told that I had cancer in my face (left maxillary sinus if you want to get all technical). I'm sitting here and there's so much I want to write and say, but there are no words.

A year ago, I thought I was going to die. I was 29 and told I had a highly aggressive Stage 3 cancer with possible lymph node involvement. My world crashed and burned and I woke up one day in a dark tunnel.

Light? What light!

I spent last Thanksgiving and Christmas so sure that I was dying. The new year was welcomed with a puffy face, seven missing teeth, a hole in my mouth, a prosthetic denture, and a big gash on my leg from a skin graft. I spent my spring in the Midwest undergoing a total of 70 sessions of radiation, 42 to the face and 28 to the neck. I spent the summer recuperating from the radiation burns and side effects and here I am now.

One year later.

I started work again two weeks ago. My life was on a holding pattern for almost a whole year.

I wish there was something profound I could share with you, but really there isn't. I'm just happy to be alive. I'm ecstatic that my recent MRIs came back clean. I'm happy that there was recently a new discovery regarding a gene mutation in patients with ACC. I'm thankful for all my friends and family that have supported me this last year.

I'm happy that I got to spend another year with the MR, despite all his annoyances. =P And I'm most thankful that I had another year with my little man who is turning four next week.

So here I am.

A survivor? I hate that term.

What do you call the people who didn't make it?

Losers? F**k that.

I just consider myself the lucky SOB that made it this far.

My heart still aches every time I hear of a cancer death. Whether it's someone I met online, a celebrity, a friend of a friend, it doesn't matter. I feel connected to random strangers because only as a cancer patient can you really understand what they're going through. I'm so much more aware of my mortality. I don't think of death every day, but it's always in the back of my head...hovering.

One year? Not enough. Give me at least 50 more please.

I want to live. I want to live until I'm old and droopy.

So CHEERS to my first year as a lucky son of a bitch!

Anchovie Dwen-jang gook - (멸치 된장국)

Tap. Tap. Tap. Are you still there? It seems just as I start to build up site traffic on this blog, I go on a hiatus. It's tough trying to keep up this blog sometimes...especially when I don't step foot into the kitchen for two weeks at a time. =P Also, I realized that every since I upgraded my camera (50D baby!) that I'm afraid to take it into the kitchen for fear it might get splashed on, dropped, etc.

Anyhow, here goes a simple dwenjang gook using anchovy broth.



I add roughly 7 cups of water to a pot along with 5-6 dried anchovies and some dried sea kelp.



After everything comes to a boil, add 1TB dwenjang, 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1TB gook ganjang, 1/2 TB minced garlic and let boil on low heat.



I decided to use bokchoy today. I washed and cut up 3 bunches of it.



Toss the bokchoy in and continue to boil.



I also threw in a handful of chopped up moo (daikon radish).



A handful of sliced onions...



And finally some kongnamool.



Let everything boil together for about 30 minutes.



And you're ready to serve! It's a fresh and light gook perfect for picky little Korean toddlers. =)

Chuseok Rice Cakes - 송편

I warned you, there are absolutely NO measurements so this 'recipe' might be a little useless. However, I wanted to put this up so that it can jog my memory when I attempt to make it one day (hopefully soon). When I make it, I promise to write down the measurements I use. =)



MIL (my friend's) started off with some rice flour. She said the flour was FRESH straight from Ktown. I guess there are places that sell fresh rice flour like this. Who knew?



She took some HOT water and seasoned it with a little salt. The water was salty enough that I could taste the salt, but not overwhelmingly salty. "A little bit of salt" is what you need in the hot water she said. =P You then add "just enough" hot water to bring the rice flour to a dough consistency.



You don't want it too firm, nor too pliable. You want it JUST RIGHT.



MIL made three wonderful fillings. Too bad I can't tell you what they were because she said it in Korean and I forgot. Yeah, I'm beginning to think this recipe is REALLY useless. =)



I know this one! It's red beans! She said all you have to do is soak the beans and then boil it. After it's boiled, you season it with a dash of salt and some sugar.



I don't know what this was, but it was SOOOO good. It's some type of bean.



Then you just take the dough and flatten it out. The key was to keep it a bit thick. I tried to make it thin like a mandoo and all the insides popped right out. =P



Make them all like so...(aesthetics was obviously not our strong point). I think the UGLY ones were made by my dear friend Y. =P



Then place them in a steamer for about 15 minutes. It was interesting because she just stacked them on top of each other. I thought they would stick to each other, but they didn't.



After 15 minutes, the dduks were done!



She washed them in a bit of water mixed with sesame oil...



After letting them dry for a while...



We were ready to devour them. My pictures aren't that great because I was too busy popping these suckers into my mouth. They tasted wonderful all warm and sticky. Happy belated Korean Thanksgiving!!!

Baby Mushrooms

Here's a quick and easy banchan. I tend to take whatever vegetables I have in my fridge at the time and just mix them all up together.



I bought some baby mushrooms and decided to make it for a breakfast side dish one lazy Sunday morning.



Heat up a pan with 1/2 TB sesame oil and about 1/2 TB of minced garlic.



Wash and cut your mushrooms.



Add the mushrooms along with some sliced onions to the pot and saute it it with about 1/4 TB of dwen-jang.



Season it with some sesame seeds and you're ready to serve! A quick and easy banchan. =)